The Pirate Queen
by Cossomer
Summary: Aio is a relentless, merciless, stone-cold pirate. Being Hoyt Volker's daughter, it comes naturally - but growing up as a mistake, Aio has felt a desperate need to prove herself to him throughout her entire life. But with a dangerous tendency to get drunk and a strong, vicious will, she finds herself stuck in places she should never ever be. M for profanity, sex, drugs. (Far cry 3)
1. One - Adoption

**Hi! :D**

**Just so you know, the next few chapters are set in the past, and I am using them as set up for the rest of the story. It begins set around 20 years before the actual plot of Far Cry 3 takes place, but slowly gets closer to the present. I wanted to write about my OC's past, because I felt like it was important. So if you're only here for a Vaas/OC sort of fanfiction, you have to wait a while, or skip the next few chapters, as she isn't going to develop a relationship with him just like that. **

**Anyways, I have rated it a definite M for (so far) violence, gore, some child abuse, and relentless coarse language. **

**But, I hope you enjoy c:**

* * *

Hoyt was in his office, leaning back on his office chair with his feet propped up on the desk. He held a cigar between his thumb and forefinger, and took a deep drag of it before sighing, blowing the smoke around his face. Quiet Rastafarian music was playing from a small battered radio at the corner of his desk, filled with soft static. A small lantern hung from his ceiling, dimly lighting the room, leaving space for the blue moonlight to softly shine through his shattered window. A tiny breeze rattled the blinds that hung on a slope.

There was suddenly a loud, pounding knock on his door, causing him to jump slightly. Frustrated, he pulled his feet off of his desk and sat forward.

The door opened, and a pirate stood in the doorframe. He wore green cargos, and a red singlet with a white skull printed in the centre of it. He hold a large gun close to his chest with both hands.

"What the fuck do you want, Rodriguez." Hoyt snapped, leaning forward and squishing his cigar into the ashtray on his desk. He stood up and crossed his arms, resting against the side of his desk.

"Remember that Rakyat girl that you fucked like a year ago?" The pirate asked. Hoyt wouldn't usually have let someone slide after saying that, but Rodriguez was one of his most trusted followers. He did everything Hoyt asked without a question, and he did it well.

Hoyt sighed, holding the bridge of his nose with his fingers. "Yes." He said, a small hint of dread and regret showing on his face. "I remember."

"Well, she says you knocked her up." Rodriguez said emotionlessly, "She showed up with your kid."

Hoyt looked up, glaring at him. He was shocked. How on earth did she get pregnant? How did he even let her live? "What?" He asked eagerly, walking towards Rodriguez, "Please fucking tell me you're joking."

Rodriguez sniggered. "You're screwed, sir." He said humorously. Hoyt flared, shoving past him and out of his office, and stormed down the hallway. The last thing he wanted was a kid. He wouldn't have given less of a fuck if the Rakyat girl – Ahiri – had just kept the child to herself. But now she had come begging, right? Hoyt cursed as he made his way out of the building.

He stormed past the few privateers who stood guard outside the door into the building. Standing by a shack was Ahiri, who was yelling and struggling against the few pirates who were pointing guns at her and trying to take a child out of her arms.

"Calm the fuck down." Hoyt hissed, and the pirates let go of her arms, and lowered their guns. She pulled the child back into her chest and glared at him. "The fuck do you think you're doing here? I told you I'd let you live if I never saw your face again. So why the fuck did you come crying to me?" Hoyt snapped, waiting for a legitimate answer.

Ahiri looked at him worriedly. She held out the child she was carrying in her arm. The child was in nothing but a diaper, with a small white tiare flower in its black hair. "She's yours, Hoyt."

He grimaced at her, "And why the _fuck_ should I care?" He yelled, holding his arms out in exclamation. The child was a result of rape after all, what part of rape implies caring for any of the consequences?

"I…I don't know!" She sobbed, holding the child out to him, "But I can't afford to take care of her. I was hoping … you'd at least take her." Hoyt looked at her, shocked, glancing from her to the baby. It had pale coffee skin, not quite as dark as its mothers and not quite as pale as his. It had soft, curly black hair, and pastel blue eyes, like his.

"What the fuck makes you think I want a baby?" Hoyt asked, astounded by the idea that she had even thought about bring the baby to him. "Do I look like I'm cut out to be a fucking father? I own the largest drug cartel in the south pacific, for fucks sake!" Ahiri sobbed, intently ignoring him, holding the child out to him desperately.

Hoyt glared at her, but reluctantly took the baby and held it, who watched him attentively as he stared at it, half in anger and half in fear. The baby smiled, revealing small white teeth and a wet tongue that was sticking out between them. Hoyt's heart raced as he looked back at Ahiri.

She watched him desperately. "Her name is Aio." She said, her voice quivering slightly. Hoyt scowled at her. "I don't fucking want her!" He snapped, holding it out with intention to give the child back. It started to bawl, flailing its arms and legs - and Hoyt almost dropped it.

"I can't take care of her!" Ahiri cried, backing away from it, "And at least if she's raised by you she won't be constantly hunted down by your fucking privateers!" Hoyt was immensely surprised by her gut – after how he treated her he was surprised she even had the audacity to show her face to him. But there she was, shoving her baby – _his_ baby – in his face.

"Fine!" He yelled, "I'll fucking take her!" She didn't respond, but stood there as he took the baby and stared at it briefly. He did see some resemblance. The child was a toxic mix of the best of both parents. She had her father's brilliant blue eyes and her mother's round, plump lips and dark hair. He was yet to see which personality she would take – his or her mothers. Either way, she'd end up crazy. "Now fuck off." He said, scowling, "I swear to god next time I see your face I'll shoot it." He began to walk back to his office, keeping his eyes on the baby. He was somewhat scared of it.

He jumped and almost dropped the baby when a loud and abrupt bang erupted from behind him, followed by a splash of warm liquid on the back of his neck. It started to trickle under his collar and down his back as he turned. He looked down to find Ahiri lying on the ground, a giant bleeding hole gaping from the back of her head. A knife was in her hand. Hoyt looked up at the pirate who had shot her. "What the _fuck?_" He said, shocked, but not angry. The pirate shrugged. "She was holding a knife to your back, Sir." He explained dully, "She was gunna try to stab you." Hoyt sighed and shrugged.

"Clean the shit up." He said, as he took the baby inside. "I don't want the whore's blood on my doorstep." He looked at the baby, who was no longer crying, but had tears caught in its dark eyelashes. It put its hand in its mouth and sucked on it, staring at him. Hoyt rolled his eyes and sighed as he began to take it inside.

"The fuck am I going to do with you?" He growled, frowning at it.

A baby was possibly the last thing he wanted or needed or imagined being anywhere near.

But there he was, carrying one. He didn't have the nerve to kill it, though he could, right then and there. But he didn't. He, for god knows why, kept it.


	2. Two - Replacement

_Ten Years Later_

Aio was walking alongside Hoyt, holding his hand. He never held it back, but she always gripped it tightly despite his dislike of hand holding. Half of her was hiding behind his arm, using him as an unwilling shield. Her wavy dark hair was tied back into plait that went to the centre of her back, and she had a signature white tiare flower tucked into her ear. She was no longer made nervous by the vicious yells of the pirates and privateers that Hoyt had employed, or the constant gunshots, screams and blood that she would always see from her window. She had grown used to it. But this was more than usual – Hoyt had ordered a raid on a village that was rumoured to be planning an attack. And he had decided to come personally. It was a rare occasion for her, as he was usually adamant that she stayed in the compound back on Hoyt's personal island. But he'd told her that she needed to see what would go on outside his safehouse. And she was petrified.

She looked around the village, now eerily empty. There were a few finishing gunshots before the village was almost entirely silent. She glanced down at the people that lay dotted around the village. Several young children, too. Dead. Every single one of them, lying on their stomachs or their backs, poked full of bullet holes, leaking each of their own puddles of thick, red blood. Every single one of them with their eyes wide open, caught in the middle of a thought or activity and oblivious to the fact that just one bullet would drop them dead. Aio sobbed, and tucked her face behind Hoyt's arm.

Hoyt approached a group of pirates, all with triumphant smiles and stances. They clearly thought they had done exactly what Hoyt had asked them to do. Hoyt's face was blank, though, emotionless. He almost stepped on a body as he walked up beside one of the pirates.

"Is the entire village clear?" Hoyt asked, pressing for an answer.

"Yes Sir." One of the pirates responded – it was Rodriguez. Hoyt spread his arms in pride, grinning widely.

"Fantastic!" Hoyt exclaimed, "That's one less fucking rebel attack I need to deal with." He patted Rodriguez's upper back. Aio stared one of the children that lay dead on the floor. It was full of bleeding holes, the floor surrounding it soaked with blood. Its eyes were wide open, glassy, staring at the sky. She hugged Hoyt's leg, and he put a surprisingly comforting hand on her shoulder.

She looked up at Rodriguez. He was like an uncle to her, Hoyt would leave her with him when he left to do something important. He essentially raised her, since Hoyt had only contributed to a third of her life so far. He had also taught her almost everything she needed to know about the drugs, slavers, weapons and other vile goings-on on the island that most parents would be appalled that their children knew about. He didn't censor himself when he was around her, either. Nothing was kept hidden from her, and she knew nothing different. But despite Hoyt's absence from her life, she saw him as a father, and she loved him.

Hoyt was mid-sentence when an incredibly loud bang exploded from directly in front of them, resulting in several panicked yells from each of the pirates. Aio quickly hid behind Hoyt when a fine spray of blood spattered over them both, landing in her hair and his, and spattering over his shirt and blazer. She shrieked when Rodriguez dropped to his knees, blood pouring down over his face and chest, before falling face first into the muddy dirt road. Aio began to cry, huddling behind Hoyt and burying her face into his back – as he finally held her hand tightly. A boy stood behind where Rodriguez was standing, holding a small gun that was pointed directly at Hoyt's head. All the pirates instantly raised their guns at the boy, but Hoyt raised his hands and yelled, "Don't shoot!"

The pirates did his bidding and slightly lowered their guns, each of them looking desperately confused and rather frustrated. The boy looked in his late teens. He had very tanned skin, partially darker due to a layer of dirt and grime. He had almost black eyes, and very dark hair – that was shaved down the sides, almost a Mohawk, but not a particularly long one. He wore a dirty white singlet and beige cargo shorts, held up by a belt that was decked with ammunition, grenades and a large dagger strapped to his hip. He also wore several necklaces around his neck, one with a relatively large green jade pendant that hung over his sweat-covered chest.

"What's your name, boy?" Hoyt asked stiffly. Aio was horrified that the boy might shoot Hoyt then and there. She couldn't handle losing both Hoyt and Rodriguez in the span of five minutes.

The boy looked at Hoyt sceptically, but maintaining his stance, his finger hovering over the trigger of his small gun. "Vaas." He said, revealing a Hispanic accent. He looked around nervously at the pirates whose guns were slowly rising towards him again. Hoyt indicated for one of the pirates to take Vaas' gun – but when the pirate stepped forward Vaas elbowed him in the nose and tucked his gun away in the back of his cargo shorts. Hoyt laughed.

"Do you know who you just shot, Vaas?" He asked threateningly, but with a slight touch of rather unsuited humour. Vaas didn't respond in any way. "You just shot my best guy."

"Do you think I fucking care?" Vaas barked, scowling at Hoyt. Hoyt laughed again, clearly impressed.

"How old are you?" Hoyt asked intently, crossing his arms. Aio watched the conversation attentively, holding onto to Hoyt's trousers. She was somewhat scared of Vaas.

"Seventeen." He snapped, crossing his arms, "Why the fuck do you care?"

Hoyt smiled, before nodding at Rodriguez's lifeless body that lay directly in front of him. "How do you feel about replacing him?" He asked. All of the pirates almost gawked, and Aio looked up at Hoyt, her eyes wide. She gripped his leg tighter.

Vaas stared at Hoyt sceptically, before demanding, "What's in it for me, huh?"

"Money, weapons, power." Hoyt listed, noticing a packet of white cocaine powder sticking out of his pocket, "And all the drugs you could _possibly_ want." His voice was tinged with falsity and exaggeration, even Aio found it relatively deceiving. But Vaas seemed fairly smart.

Vaas pouted and crossed his arms. "Ok." He agreed, before pointing at Hoyt threateningly, "But if you're just pissing on my sunshine, I'll fuck you up, hermano."

Hoyt laughed and nodded understandingly. "I'm not pissing on anyone's sunshine." He pointed at the corpses that lay around them, "Except theirs, of course." Aio began to breathe heavily, before looking cautiously up at Hoyt.

"Hoyt," She said quietly – as he didn't like her calling him 'daddy'. Hoyt looked down at her, grinning slightly. "He just killed Rodriguez..." She whispered it to him, despite the small squeaks her voice made as she tried to stop herself from crying.

"I know, sweetie." He said calmly, "But he might be even _better_ than Rodriguez." Aio stared at him in disbelief – he had made it seem like Rodriguez was his best friend, but clearly to Hoyt he was as equally as disposable as a paper napkin. After her second father was just shot in the head, Hoyt replaced him with the person who killed him.


	3. Three - Rules

_Three Years Later_

Aio lay on her bed, staring blatantly at the ceiling. She had a pair of ratty headphones over her head, one of the ears was busted. She had her arms behind her head and her legs crossed, listening to a Bob Marley song with the volume relatively low. She was gently bobbing her head, enjoying the silence for once – the compound was usually polluted with yelling and gunfire. But Hoyt had sent most of the loud pirates out to do some grisly chore, perhaps killing some people, perhaps stealing some. Aio had gotten too used to Hoyt's ambitions and typical expectations to care about the people outside the compound anymore. As a child she always felt guilty for the Rakyat, and all the other innocent people that happened to come across the island, having known her mother was an islander. But thirteen years on, she couldn't give less of a shit about them.

Blood no longer made her cringe. Corpses no longer made her shudder. Marijuana and tobacco no longer made her cough. Gunfire no longer made her jump. She had almost been completely filed to the core by the grit and harsh reality of the island, so she had become almost impenetrable to the horrific goings on that happened throughout everyday life.

While thinking about it, Aio stood up and went over to the table in the corner of her room, which contained several piles of unnecessary shit, papers, a gun and a couple of boxes. She opened one of them, where several joints of marijuana lay sorted neatly into piles. She pulled one out, before grabbing a lighter from the pocket of her cargo pants. She held the joint between her lips and flicked the striker, holding the small flame underneath the end of roll.

She took a deep, satisfying breath of the smoke, before sighing and taking it out of her mouth, holding it between her fingers. She imagined what it would be like to live somewhere civilized, where any form of smoking was looked down upon, let alone drugs, let alone being smoked by a thirteen-year-old girl. But she ignored the thought, and turned up the volume of her busted headphones as she took another drag of the joint.

She jumped when she saw her door open in her peripheral vision. She pulled the joint away from her lips when she saw Vaas standing in the doorframe, scratching his upper back with his handgun. He enjoyed waving it around, and it bugged her. She pulled off her headphones and hung them around the back of her neck.

"Hoyt told you to take care of the rejects over an hour ago, hermana." He said sternly, looking at her ominously. He noticed the smoking joint she held between her fingers, "And he also told you not to smoke more than one of those a day, no?"

She looked at him roguishly, and took a drag of it. "This is my first one." She said arrogantly. She liked to act untouchable around him. He was very intimidating, though, despite being only about twenty years old. He was a much bigger build than Hoyt, and easily the same height, if not slightly taller.

"I don't fucking care, ok?" He hissed, "But I get all the shit if you don't do what he says, no? So go and fucking execute the rejects."

She kicked the floor with the heel of her boot. "No thanks." She said. While she was used to the constant killings, she didn't like killing people herself. She wasn't that cold. She wasn't completely like Hoyt. Not yet.

"Listen to me, you churlish fuck." He said, approaching her, glowering. "I don't give a fuck if you're Hoyt's little bitch, ok? So don't give me a reason to hit you, because I'm honestly fucking trying to stop myself."

She became slightly frightened, but instead of stepping back, she stood her ground. "Ha ha." She said sarcastically, her voice dull. "Vaas, why don't you just fucking kill them yourself."

"Because it's not my _fucking _job." He snapped, "Hoyt gave that job to you, no? Therefore it's not my job." He was still approaching her, his shoulders slouched over, his eyes dark.

Aio sighed, and took another drag of her now shortening joint. "I don't like killing people, Vaas." She said quietly, "I'm not like you or Hoyt."

"If you want to live much longer on this fucking island, hermana," He said, "You will be." She glowered at him, considering his point for a moment. She knew that Hoyt had only kept her because she might be of some use to him, not because she was his daughter. She knew that if she didn't live up to Hoyt's never-ending standards than she would no longer even be considered his daughter. So Vaas had an incredibly valid point, despite the fact she was so eager to pretend that it wasn't true. She was so eager to pretend that Hoyt did see her as a daughter, and that he loved her like one, the way she loved him as a father. But she knew that reality for her wasn't that simple.

"Fuck off." She said quietly, lowering her head, taking another puff of the joint she held between her fingers.

"Excuse me?" Vaas pushed threateningly, pointing at his ear, "I'm sorry hermana, the fuck did you say?" He was standing at least a foot away from her now, or at least close enough for her to feel his pacing breath on her face. She looked up at him, crossing her arms, and flicking the end of her joint to rid of the ashes that were building up at the end.  
"Fuck off." She said again, not much louder, just at a typical inside volume. She looked up at him from under her brow, fuming. Vaas stormed towards her and grabbed the collar of her dirty blue singlet, balling the fabric into a tight fist. She was lucky her singlet was too flimsy to lift her off the ground, but she felt her feet become lighter.

"I don't know who the fuck you think you are, puta," He hissed, a fine spray of saliva hitting her face, "But you're really pissing me off, okay? Now go and execute the fucking rejects before I fucking lose my top." She scowled at him, and spat at him.

"No." She snapped, glaring at him, maintaining her stance as her joint dropped to the ground. Vaas fumed, as he quickly pulled his fist behind his head and hit her in the face with a force. It knocked her dizzy, as he let go of her singlet and she fell to her knees. She groaned as she wrapped her hands around her head, trying to regain her slowly decaying consciousness. Vaas leant forward and picked up her joint, before taking a drag of it. She glared at him penetratingly.

"Go, and, execute," He said facetiously, separating each word as if he was talking to a primary school student, "The _fucking_ rejects, before I hit you again, okay?"

She scowled at him, her eyebrows low and her eyes wide. "No!" She yelled, satisfied by the sudden boost of adrenaline it gave her. He stormed up to her, too quickly for her to curl into a ball and defend herself. He grabbed both of her wrists and pinned her to the floor, sitting on her stomach. He put his face close to hers. "Who the _fuck_," He screamed, directly into her face, "Do you _fucking_ think you are?!" She tried to maintain herself, continuing to glower at him, stopping herself from breaking into tears. He was heavy, and she had difficulty breathing underneath the weight of him sitting over her torso.

"I'm your boss's fucking daughter." She yelled, but her strength was immediately downed when he hit her again in the side of the head. She screamed, holding her hands out, trying to defend herself. But Vaas had completely lost it, and he hit her again, and again, and again, without giving her a single moment to breathe. He screamed in her face again. "I don't give a _fuck_ who you are, puta!" He shouted. She sobbed, turning her head to the side, trying to maintain her consciousness. She couldn't focus on anything, and her ears rung, and she felt a warm trickle of blood leak from her nose and down the side of her face.

"Vaas!" Someone yelled, but the voice was just fuzzy to her. She gasped in relief when Vaas stepped off of her, standing away. She curled into a ball on the floor and bawled.

"Vaas, what the fuck are you doing?" Aio recognized the voice, though it was muffled and fuzzy. It was Hoyt. "That's my daughter you're beating, you fucking know that, right?"

"Sorry, Hoyt." Vaas said instantly, slightly out of breath. "She was being an ignorant little fuck."

"Ah." Hoyt said, as he started to approach Aio. He stood above her and looked down on her. She continued to cry, as she knew that he wasn't there to sympathise for her. Nor was he there to punish Vaas.

"Aio, sweetheart," He said, false kindness streaming through his words, "I'm sorry, but you have to understand that you need to fucking do what he says, okay? What Vaas says is what I say. His words are as stern as mine, okay?"

She began to stand up, glaring at him, her eyelashes wet with tears, a trail of blood streaming down her face, a bruise forming around her left eye. She had to steady herself, holding on to the edge of her table to keep herself from falling again. Her head began to rush, her eyesight fading. "I'll never do what he says, Hoyt." She hissed, relishing in the shock on his face, "He's not my fucking dad."

Hoyt slapped her on the side of the face, causing her to fall to both hands. "No, but I am. Therefore I say that you must do what he says. No fucking questions asked." He snapped.

She sobbed. "Rodriguez was more of a father than you'll _ever_ fucking be." She yelled, before wiping her eye, snatching the gun from her desk and storming past them.

"Aio!" Hoyt yelled after her, but she was sprinting down the corridor, and he wasn't about to chase after her.

Hoyt looked at Vaas grimly, Aio's comment stinging him a little. "Send someone after her." He said dully, "Or do it yourself."

Vaas nodded obediently.

"Make sure she's alive when she returns, Vaas." Hoyt said as he left the room, before adding, "She's my daughter after all."


	4. Four - Catalyst

Aio was sprinting through the jungle, sobbing, holding a gun in her hand. Her black hair had come undone, and it was flailing around behind her, catching on branches and leaves that stuck out everywhere around her. Her upper arms were being scratched, her hands whipped, her feet sore. She had been running through for at least seven minutes, her still pumping adrenaline kept her going.

She just couldn't _take _it anymore. Vaas had only been there three years, and he had already surpassed her on her father's favourite list. And Hoyt knew that, he knew that she hated Vaas, he knew that she didn't want him there, yet it didn't bother him at all. He didn't give a shit about her feelings. And she'd kill for someone who did.

The sun had set already, and the moonlight was just starting to seep through the dense canopy above her. She looked up, enjoying the brief solitude, calmness, silence, as several patches of bluish light shone down on her face. The fresh air filled her lungs, finally a different smell to the tobacco, sweat and blood-filled scents that surrounded the compound.

She gasped, when a tree root came out of nowhere and caught on her foot. At the speed she was sprinting at, she flew over it, before landing in a bush and skidding through it. She hit her already softened head on the trunk of a palm tree, dizzying her. She curled into a ball, holding her head with both hands, trying to withstand the pain. She groaned, before losing all strength she had. She cried. She bawled, even, holding her hands over her tender, bruised eyes.

"Fuck you, Vaas." She whispered to herself, sniffing, "Fuck you."

She huddled under the bush, in the dark, in the cold.

She lay there for at least ten minutes before something happened. She lifted her head when she heard the bushes around her rustle, followed by a deep, gurgling growl. She started to hyperventilate, sitting herself up slowly, before she heard a dog howl in the distance, followed by several aggravated, sloshed barks. She silenced herself, shaking.

How could she be so ignorant? She knew that there were hostile animals in the jungle. She knew that she shouldn't outrun a pack of dogs. There was no way she could climb up a palm tree. She slowly rose to a standing position, sliding herself up against the thin trunk of the tree. Past the bushes, she saw at least six dogs, each of them with patches of hairlessness, and cuts and scratches around their body. Each of them bearing their teeth and gums, their jowls and throats vibrating as they growled and barked at her. Each of them slowly approaching her, low to the ground, glaring directly at her.

There was one commanding bark, before they all leapt at her.

Vaas was storming through the jungle, panting, with several pirates following behind him. Each of them had large guns gripped with both hands. The jungle was relatively silent, save for the stupid birds and animals that constantly made noises to tell all their predators where they were.

He perked his head when he heard a vicious scream in the distance. He knew it was Aio. He didn't like Aio. He didn't particularly want to be hunting after her either. But he respected her, for some reason. He respected her gut, and her acceptance of how she was treated on the island. And part of him did want to find her. Not just because Hoyt would kill him if he didn't, but he felt like she was part of his life. Not a sibling, or a daughter, or some kind of relative. But she was there, and she was a relatively significant figure in his career on Hoyt's side.

"This way." Vaas said, and the other pirates followed behind him. There was another scream, and Vaas picked up his pace. He stormed through the bushes, cutting them aside with a large, swinging blade. The scream was closer than he had foreseen.

But the moment he heard a dog bark, he began to run. The pirates ran after him, their guns now pointed out in front of them.

"Aio!" He yelled, not fully expecting a response. He prayed to god that the dogs hadn't found her. God knows why she didn't think just for once that it wasn't safe for her past the fence. But if the dogs were already onto her, he may have been too late.

The vicious barks were getting louder, and closer. He jumped when he heard gunshots being fired, and looked around at his pirates. They were shooting dogs. Vaas became desperate, running around in circles. "Aio, you dumb fuck!" He shouted, "Where the _fuck _did you go!?"

His sprinting was cut short when he tripped over something. He fell forward, and landed on his side, giving him an opportunity to swiftly pull is small gun off of his holster. He looked ahead at what he had tripped over, and almost threw up.

"Holy shit." He said, exasperated. Aio was lying on the ground – he couldn't tell if she was unconscious or dead. He could hardly see her face or body through all the blood that smothered her. There was a dog chewing at her arm, growling savagely when it caught Vaas's eye.

"Get the fuck off her." He hissed, before holding his gun out ahead of him and shooting it square in the head. The dog collapsed over Aio's body, and Vaas went over and kicked it off.

He crouched down beside her, and held two fingers under her jaw, waiting for a pulse. He almost screamed in relief when finally he felt one throb through her neck, before using his bandaged hand to wipe some of the blood off her face. She had three huge gashes that stretched down her face, over her eye. Her right eye was wide open, full of blood, almost clawed to pieces. There wasn't much of her eyeball left. Her left eye was fine, though of course bruised, but that was his fault. He almost threw up at the sight of her. She had large, deep, bloody gouges in her chest, over her stomach, down her legs. Her singlet was ripped to shreds, her hair soaked with blood and full of leaves that had stuck to it.

He slid his arms under her neck and under her knees, and lifted her off the ground. In normal circumstances he would have just thrown her over his shoulder, but she had such a large gash in her stomach, he was worried doing so would kill her. So now with no hands to carry anything to defend himself with, he called on his other pirates, who were still battling against the pack of ferocious dogs that were attacking them.

"Aye!" He shouted, "I found her! Get the fuck over here, I need someone on my back." A few of the pirates came back, all of them panting, most of them hurt in one way or another.

"We lost Carlos." One of them said. "The cocksucker got him from behind."

Vaas huffed and cursed under his breath. "Too late for him now." He said stiffly, "Kill every fucking animal that gets in the way of here and the compound, okay?"

He looked down at what was left of Aio, and for the first time ever, was scared that she'd die in his arms.


	5. Five - Waste

Aio slowly licked her lips, gradually regaining her consciousness. She was numb in almost every part of her body, save for her fingertips. She touched her mouth as she opened her eyes. She stared at the ceiling. She recognized it, and she recognized the smell of the room. It strongly smelt of liquor and tobacco, and old wood. She groaned as she tried to sit up, she noticed she was lying on an old, battered couch. She knew where she was, she was in Hoyt's office. She didn't know if he was there or not, but he probably wasn't. She couldn't remember much, and she had no sense of how long she had been unconscious for.

She groaned again as she finally sat up. She paused for a moment, staring ahead. Something wasn't right. She held her hand over only her left eye.

She couldn't see at all. Anything.

She waved her hand over her right eye… and she couldn't see it. She was blind in one eye. She began to breathe heavily, close to tears, as she eagerly tried to get up. She finally stood up, stumbling towards a mirror that was against the wall on the other side of the room. She stood in front of it, briefly, and gagged as her mouth fell open. She touched her face, her fingers shaking. She had long, thick scars that were torn down the right side of her face, over her right eye. She leaned in closer to it, looking at her right eye with her left. Her right eye was no longer blue, it was white. Her iris was clouded over, a scar running through it. She sobbed, holding her hand shakily over her mouth as she began to remember what had happened. How could she have been so stupidly ignorant? With one senseless, impulsive mistake, she came back with devastating scars. She slowly stepped away from the mirror.

"Hoyt?" She said, her voice slurred, hoping for a response. But there wasn't one. She began to walk, with a lack of balance, towards the door. She pushed it open, and stumbled down the corridor, made her way slowly down the stairs. "Hoyt!" She yelled, it didn't come out very loud, and her voice was cracked and hoarse. She walked out of the building, regaining her balance, and most of her memory, as she looked around desperately for her father.

Several pirates and privateers were dotted around, each of them talking, or walking, all of them with large guns. She approached one of them.

"Hey," She said sharply, and he turned around, "Where's Hoyt?"

"What the hell is a dumb fucking islander like you wandering Hoyt's compound?" He asked sarcastically, "You're lucky I'm not as racist as him, or I'd have shot you by now." She was shockingly surprised by the pirate's audacity to talk to her like that. He didn't even recognize her.

"I'm not a fucking islander!" She hissed, glowering at him. The pirate just laughed sarcastically, crossing his arms.

"Then who the fuck do you think you are? You little bitch." He said arrogantly, smirking. She scowled. "Maybe I should just shoot you." He added.

"Aio Volker." She said thickly, through her teeth, "my name is Aio Volker."

The pirate immediately looked taken aback, frightened even. He scratched the back of his head as he lowered his gun. "Oh." He said obediently, "Sorry, Aio. He's over by the drug fields… want a ride?" Aio wanted to laugh, but she resisted it. She nodded, and the pirate took her over to an off roader that was parked in the middle of a dirt road.

Aio saw Hoyt standing among several pirates, with his arms crossed. They were surrounded by endless crops of marijuana plants, some of them with farmers walking through them. She yelled at the pirate driving to stop, and the car screeched to a halt. She leapt out of the vehicle and began to sprint towards Hoyt. It had felt like months, months since she'd seen him. While he probably hadn't noticed her absence, she definitely had noticed his. What if he didn't even recognise her?

But it was too late for her to have a second thought, before she pushed past other pirates and collided directly with him. She wrapped her arms desperately around his chest, and immediately started to cry.

Hoyt was taken aback, shocked by her sudden appearance. "Aio?" He asked, as she continued to sob into his stomach. He put his arms around her, but rather weakly. "What the fuck are you doing here?"

She was hoping for a better reaction. She was hoping for a reunion hug, or a cry of happiness, or a 'oh my god, are you alright?' But all she got was that. Devastated, she pulled away from him, and looked him directly in the eyes, sobbing. "Why can't you just…" She whimpered, "Why can't you just treat me like a daughter?"

"What are you-" He knew exactly what she was talking about.

"You always act like I just… get in the way!" She cried, "what did I ever do to you?" Hoyt didn't have a response. His eyes were wide and eyebrows were lowered. He didn't move for a moment, perhaps thinking of an answer, perhaps deciding whether or not to shoot her.

"I…" He pathetically thought for an answer, before he finally made up one, "What happened to your eye?" Aio just gasped, and wiped her un-scarred eye.

"I was attacked by fucking dogs, Hoyt!" She said, exasperated, finally remembering every detail, "You know what happened! _Exactly_ what happened!" The pirates watched them, standing around awkwardly. But Aio just ignored them.

Hoyt held the bridge of his nose. "Can you see out of it?" He asked, his voice hinted with disappointment. Aio sobbed again.

"No, but-"

"Well now you'll never be any fucking use, will you?" He said angrily, his eyes closed, infuriated. "Son of a _bitch_."

"W-what…?" She asked, her tears almost dried up, her voice hoarse.

"Get out of here." Hoyt said, frustrated, not looking her in the eye. Aio glared at him in disbelief, still sobbing slightly, breathing heavily.

"I hate you." She said, stepping backwards away from him. "I _hate_ you!"

She turned and ran, and Hoyt watched after her.

He knew she had nowhere to run, but part of him wanted to chase her.

**Thanks so much for reading this far! This is the last of the 'past' chapters, so expect a sudden jump in time and change in personality in the next chapter.  
Hope you enjoyed :D**


	6. Six - Duty

**Hello! So finally we are at the present. The first few chapters were just build up, I guess, but I felt that Aio's past was important. But now Aio finally starts to build somewhat of a relationship with Vaas, so if you only started reading this for a Vaas/OC sort of thing, it's finally here-ish. But be aware that it will take a while, as she deeply hates him at the moment. **

**Oh, and of course the rest of the story will still be rated M for endless amounts of relentless violence, drug use, strong coarse language, plenty of gore, sex (eventually), and all that other exciting stuff. **

**Anyway, I hope you enjoy c:**

_Seven years later_

Aio stood twenty meters before a human shaped target. It was made of heavy cardboard, but it was flimsy. It was poked full of holes, all of them centered on the head and heart. She very much enjoyed shooting, and she had perfected her aim over the seven years since she started.

She felt a need to prove herself, to prove that she was still capable despite the loss of an eye. Of course, Hoyt barely noticed her anymore. But she still worked for him, and she still did what he asked her to.

She took a deep, slow breath, keeping her eye glued to the target. She lined the cross-hair up with the head, and immediately pulled her finger down on the trigger. The bullet exploded out of the end of the gun, and went straight through the hole in the head she'd already made with other bullets. She sighed with satisfaction, it had become almost her only pastime. She practiced with other guns, too, but she had always been better with a longer gun.

She never ever as a child imagined herself where she was standing, holding a gun, shooting a target. She was very different to the girl she used to be. She no longer wore a white tiare flower in her hair, and she never wore it in a plait or in pigtails. She had several beaded braids in her hair, though, that clicked together when she swung it – but she almost always wore it in a messy, carefree ponytail.

Despite how blue her eyes were, they were dark and looming, and she used charcoal black eye shadow all over her eyelids. She used the shadow, mostly, to disguise the hideous scars that had destroyed her right eye – she hated the idea of an eye patch. It just made the word 'pirate' sound like a fucking joke.

She no longer wore an innocent white singlet like she did as a child. When she turned fifteen, she began to wear red – to show everyone she was one of the pirates. But her singlet was a much darker, dirtier red than what the rest of the pirates wore.

Her neck was decorated with leather cords and beaded necklaces, as with her wrists. Tattoos adorned her upper right arm, and the side of her neck, all of them inspired by the _tatau_ she'd heard about as a child from Rodriguez.

She wanted her appearance to reflect her personality. She was _not _depressed. She might have been, as a young teenager. But she'd grown out of it – everything she felt as a child was just mangled and distorted into a bitter, empty rage. She no longer cared about anyone's life but her own. She had turned cold, emotionless, hostile, and isolated. But, in all of that, she had grown used to it, and was relatively relaxed with the life she had been given.

Aio sank down and sat, leaning against a post, with her knees bent out in front of her. She pulled a cigar and a lighter from one of the several, large pockets in her green cargo pants. She lit the cigar, and closed her eyes as she sucked the smoke out of it and held it in her mouth, before blowing it slowly out her nose.

It was midday, and it was hot. The sun was relentlessly bright, just making her skin even tanner than it already was. She wiped the sweat from her forehead, and sighed.

"Aio." Someone said. It was Vaas – probably there to tell her to do something. "There's a fuckload of rejects waiting for you."

She cut him short. "I know." She said drearily.

Vaas laughed indignantly, scratching the back of his hand as he turned away. "It should be easy for you now, hermana, no?" He walked away again.

She scowled at his back as she stood, taking another puff of the cigar. Executing rejects had become _her_ job, as somewhat of a punishment for her. To rub her stupid mistake in deeper. She hopped into her jeep and drove towards the camp were the rejects were held hostage.

Aio arrived at the camp, and parked the jeep beside a group of pirates. She nodded at them, before walking past them. There were at least six, maybe seven people lined up to be executed. The ones she was supposed to kill. The ones who nobody was willing to pay for, the ones who nobody wanted. The people like her.

She walked over to them, all of them sobbing, whining, begging. She did her best to block out the sounds as she approached them.

One of the pirates guarding smiled at her. "All yours." He said grimly, with false manners as he made way for her. She pouted and walked past him, pulling her gun out of the holster strapped around her thigh as she took another puff of her cigar. She approached the first one, who was a man, perhaps in his late twenties or early thirties. He wasn't unattractive, but there was nothing appealing about him in her opinion. He was crying.

She stood over him, holding her gun to his forehead. He stared at her, desperately, his cheeks wet and eyes wetter. "Please, don't kill me." He cried, struggling with the ropes behind his back. "I have kids, please…"

Aio bit her bottom lip, and closed her eyes and turned her head away when she pulled the trigger. There was a bang as the man's body collapsed to the floor, his eyes wide. She didn't look back at his body as she approached the next reject. Without even making eye contact, she held the gun to their head.

She stared away and pulled the trigger.

For the next three rejects, it was the same repeated sounds – crying, yelling, followed by a bang, a splatter and a thud. Until she came across another reject, a man, perhaps in his forties.

He didn't cry, or beg. He was American, she could tell from the 'I Heart New York' on his dirty t-shirt. He just glared at her from under his brow, unmoving, his eyes penetrating.

She looked back at him. "What?" She hissed, looking down on him perilously.

"You're a revolting human being." He said sourly, scowling at her. Without even a word of warning, she aimed his gun at his thigh and pulled the trigger. The man fell to his side, crying, yelling. "You are _fucking_ crazy!" He screamed, blood pouring from the new hole in his thigh.

She walked closer to him, her feet beside his exposed stomach. "Sorry, what did you say?" She spat, as she leant forward and rested her hands on her knees, glaring at him intimidatingly.

The man scowled at her again. "You are fucking _insane_."

And Aio lost it. She shot him in the other leg, then the knee, then the stomach. "I am _NOT_ _insane_!" She screamed, repeatedly shooting around his body until finally, in a bloody, screaming mess, the man gurgled his throat, and died. Aio was panting, and she wiped her brow. Before out of the blue, she cried. She put her head in her hands and cried.

"I'm sorry." She sobbed, "You're right." She sobbed again, before she quietly added, "I am insane." She knew it too. She was downright crazy. Completely out of her mind. She'd lost her last shred of sanity as a child. She stopped crying, wiped her eyes and shook her head.

She glared at the next reject, who was watching her, shocked, frightened, disturbed. "No, no, no, please, _no!_" The woman sobbed desperately, her makeup now running in dark streams down her face. "_No!"_ She screamed again, and Aio just held her gun up and pulled the trigger. The last woman dropped face first into the ground.

Briefly, Aio looked around at what she'd done, after a disturbing silence filled the air. Seven people now lying in growing puddles of their own blood, with holes in their heads, and their hands behind their backs.

Seven innocent people, dead, murdered, in the span of five minutes.

All her bullets.

All her fault.


	7. Seven - Objectives

Aio woke from a dream, her eyelashes woven together, her eyes glued shut. Her black hair was sprawled over her face and neck, her arm hanging off the edge of the bed.

"Rise and shine, sleeping beauty."

Aio groaned indignantly as she rolled over to her front, digging her face into the pillow. Vaas was like her alarm clock – he hardly ever slept, and he took it upon himself to violently drag her out of bed every morning. But it wasn't morning. It was still dark outside.

"Get the fuck up, hermana." Vaas hissed, fiddling with a radio on her table. He turned it on to a static channel, and winded up the volume to full. She reached her hand up and pointed the finger at him, before taking her pillow from under her and holding it over her head, pressing it against her ears.

"Fuck off." She said hoarsely, her pillow muffling her voice.

She vaguely heard Vaas approach her, his boots making the wooden floor creak. He tore the pillow out of her hands and threw it across the room.

"Hoyt fuckin' wants you, Aio." He snapped, "Get the fuck up before I drag you out."

She groaned as she sat up, holding her hand over her eye. She used her finger to wipe crusted sleep from the corners of her eyes as she swivelled herself so her legs were dangling off the side of the bed. She wondered briefly what Hoyt wanted. He was probably going to tell her off for something, tell her she didn't do something right.

"Aio!" Vaas yelled, blasting her out of her daze, "It's fucking important, okay?"

Aio sighed as she stood up, stumbling over to a ratty wooden wardrobe against the wall of her room. She pulled it open. "What the fuck does he want now?" She finally asked, her voice croaky. She cleared her throat as she pulled a pair of beige desert shorts and a baggy dark red t-shirt from a pile in the bottom of the wardrobe.

"I don't fucking know." He said indignantly, "He just told me to get you and that it was important." He began to snoop through things on her desk, looking through her papers and boxes. She didn't really care, though, as it gave her a brief chance to get changed without her looking. She quickly took off the old blue singlet she wore as pyjamas, and threw her oversized red t-shirt over her head, pulling her arms through. She never saw a need to wear a bra – not that she had any, either. It's not like Hoyt ever had any lying around for her to use.

She heard Vaas laugh, and she cocked her head. He was flicking through a small book – her old journal.

"Wow." Vaas said, rather sarcastically, "You really fucking hated me, didn't you?" He looked at her as she was pulling on her shorts. It's not like he was attracted to her, so she didn't really care. She did up the button as she pouted. Vaas raised his eyebrows and continued flicking through it. All her personal stuff was only stupid things she cared about people knowing as a child. Like when Vaas would hit her, or when she first got her period, or when Hoyt would yell at her, or when he would murder a helpless child or a Rakyat boy she'd grown to like. She didn't care about him knowing those things. Vaas slammed the journal on the table.

"You fuckin' ready yet?" He asked impatiently, stomping towards her. She had intended to completely gear up, and bring all her weapons and other necessary things for the things Hoyt usually asked her to do. But she shrugged, and quickly pulled a cigar out of her pocket and held it between her lips as she lit it. She took a drag of it and blew it in his face. She enjoyed the taste of cigars. Vaas didn't flinch when the smoke hit him, and instead breathed it in. "Puta." He said simply.

She walked out of her room in bare feet and her hair out, and Vaas stormed behind her.

Vaas pushed open Hoyt's door and stepped inside, and Aio entered the room behind him. She had her head low and her arms cross. Any encounter with her father she didn't enjoy. Not anymore. She didn't look him in the eye.  
"Hoyt." Vaas said plainly, and Hoyt looked up at them. He had a cigar in between his teeth, and his elbows resting on his desk. He had been reading through something, and Aio thought she had an idea of what it was.

"Ah, Vaas." Hoyt said, slamming his hands on the desk surface as he pushed himself up to stand. "Aio, sweetheart, nice to see you," He said happily, as he approached her. She backed away from him, and glared at him.

"Don't call me sweetheart." She said under her breath. He stared her down before stepping back towards the desk and leaning on it as he took a drag of his shortening cigar. Then he laughed. "You and I, like father like daughter, no?" He pointed at the cigar she held between her fingers. She threw it to the ground and stepped on it, rubbing the sole of her foot into it, extinguishing it. Hoyt sighed.

Vaas quickly left the room, and she didn't blame him. He was never there when she had a 'falling out' with her father.

"What do you want, Hoyt." She demanded, crossing her arms. Hoyt pouted, before stepping back behind his desk. He put his fingers on the papers he had been reading, before turning them around and pushing towards the end of the desk, for her to read. She walked over to the desk. "They're CIA documents?" She stated, rather sceptically.

Hoyt nodded. "Willis Huntley." He said, pointing at a rather bleak picture of a man with hair pulled back into a ponytail. "Apparently," Hoyt said, sitting back down in his chair, taking another puff of his cigar, "He's been keeping tabs on me for a while."

"So he's got people on the inside?" She asked, putting her hands on her hips. Hoyt nodded.

"No idea who, though." He said, "But guess who's going to find out for me?" He smiled devilishly.

Aio lowered her eyelids and stretched her lips thin. "Me." She said indignantly, crossing her arms again.

"Exactly." He barked excitedly, "So I need you to go in in whatever way you fancy… but just, don't kill him straight away, ok? I need you to interrogate him first. Because some fucker of his is right here, snuggling up with us, milking all the shit and spoon feeding it directly to our American friend, Huntley."

Aio was surprised that Hoyt expected her alone to do that. If he was in the CIA, which it was apparent he was, he wasn't alone on the island – despite how many people were. "Alone?" She queried, hoping he'd tell her to bring a few pirates with her.

"No, of course not." He said, laughing, "You're taking Vaas with you."

"_What?_" She hissed, gluing her hands to her side and glowering at him poisonously.

"Oh for fucks sake, Aio…"

"I'm not working with him."

"Just-"  
"I _hate _him, Hoyt."

"Fucking-"

"I _hate_ him!"

"_Listen!_" Hoyt roared, standing from his chair and slamming his fist onto the desk. Aio jumped slightly, before biting her lip. She was intimidated by him. Hoyt glared at her. "I _know_ you hate him. But I fucking _need _you to work with him, ok? Because my whole organization is in jeopardy if you can't _fucking_ get over yourself."

Aio glowered at him, then kicked the floor with the heel of her boot. She didn't respond. He sighed and held the bridge of his nose. "Look." He said, his voice monotone and frustrated. He crossed his and propped his feet up onto the desk. "I'll cut you a deal."

Aio stared plainly at her toes. She curled and uncurled them awkwardly, doing her best to fight the urge to yell at him.

"If you do this for me…" He said, closing his eyes in frustration, "I will… put you in charge of the drug cartels." She suddenly cocked her head.

"Really?" She asked, surprised that he'd even consider putting her in a high role, and the drug cartels was the biggest part of his organisation.

"Yes." He said, "If you bring me Willis's head then I'll make you head of operations for the drug cartels. Vaas will stay with the slave trading. Deal?" She knew he didn't mean it literally. She glared at him sceptically – she felt like he was lying. Hoyt was deceitful, and he had lied to her before. Being in charge of everything that happened in the drug cartels was a _big_ deal. That would make her in command of over half of Hoyt's organization. If she screwed up, he'd most likely shoot her. Or burn her alive in his furnace. Or feed her to dogs or give her to the rest of the pirates as a slave. She took a while to answer him.

"You're not lying?" She asked quietly. After all, if he was, it did involve her having to work with Vaas. She shuddered at the idea. But then, if he wasn't, she'd end up in a higher role than him. She'd be able to tell _him_ what to do.

"Of course not." He snapped impatiently, "Do we have a fucking deal or not?"

"Yes." Aio said.

Hoyt smiled.


	8. Eight - Scheming

Aio was marching down the hallway, back to her room. She _hated_ the idea of working with Vaas. It was possibly the _very_ last thing she wanted to be doing. But it was all in good name, right? All she ever wanted to do was to be _good_ enough for Hoyt. And now was her chance to finally prove herself, right? She had to keep reassuring herself as she stormed towards her door. She pushed it open and stepped inside, only to be stopped short.

Vaas was still there, sitting on her armchair and resting his feet on her table. He was intently reading her journal, smoking one of her joints. She fumed as he blew a cloud of smoke out of his nose and turned the page.

"Vaas, what the fuck." She barked – she didn't care that he looked through it, but attentively reading it and hanging out in her room was dangerously pushing it. And also, she hated him. He looked at her plainly. Then he grinned.

"It's gripping, no?" He said humorously, pointing at it. "I especially like this, 'I'd take pleasure in watching Vaas fucking cook in dad's furnace'." He sniggered. She glowered at him – and watched him eagerly as he took another drag of the joint he held in his right hand. She hastily sped over to the table and frantically looked through the box of joints on her desk. When she opened it, though, it was empty.

"Vaas, is that my joint?" She asked through her teeth, suddenly turning her head to face him. He smiled before taking it out of his mouth and looking at it.

"Yep." He said casually. She knew that he didn't have to look at it to know, he'd taken her last joint. He grinned widely and held the roll between his teeth.  
"Fuck you." She growled, before running her fingers through her hair desperately and sliding her back down her desk to sit. "You took my last one." She said, exasperated, almost out of breath. She stared ahead with her fingers pulling her hair at its roots, panting, her eyes wide.

Vaas pushed himself out of her chair, walked over to her, and held out the joint. She glared at him as she snatched it from her hand and immediately put it in her mouth, taking a deep, slow breath of it. He chortled mockingly as he leant against the wall.

"So." He said, "What did Hoyt have to say?"

She breathed the smoke through her nose, briefly ignoring him, closing her eyes. Every stress in her body was momentarily untied, as she slouched forward and her head flopped back against her desk. Then she looked up at him. "Can't you just go away?" She hissed, before remembering what she had to do.

"Excuse me?" He suddenly snapped, glaring at her. She lowered her head.

"Never mind." She replied dully. "He had a task for me."

"Oh?" Vaas responded, quickly changing his attitude, "and what was it?"

"I need to interrogate and kills some American fuck called Willis Huntley." She replied plainly, with a hint of dread in her voice.

"Sounds easy enough, huh?" Vaas said mockingly, crossing his arms. She chuckled and looked at the floor, holding her hands over the back of her head.

"It would be." She retorted, "but he said you need to come with me."

Vaas didn't seem too keen on the idea either. He didn't hate her as much as she hated him, though. But this was the first time he'd ever had to work with her as an equal, as he'd grown so used to telling her what to do all day, every day.

"Fuck." He said drearily, before sighing. "Why the _fuck_ did he think you'd even consider going on duty with me, hm? You hate me more than he hates the fucking islanders."

She huffed, standing, taking another drag of the joint between her fingers. "Yep." She replied bitterly, "but he offered me something in return."

"How fucking wonderful." He snapped.

Aio raised her eyebrows as she put the joint between her lips again, looking away from him. Vaas sighed indignantly. "Fuck you." She said quietly.

"If you're going to be an aggravating little fuck then I won't fucking come, got it?" He said sternly, pointing at her threateningly.

"You don't have a fucking choice, Vaas." She responded bleakly.

"Right then." He said suddenly, faking excitement. "We should get started, no?"

Aio raised her eyebrows again, before heading over to a large chest underneath her window. She heaved it open, revealing piles of guns, knives, ammunition, pouches of grenades – and all the other shit she used to kill people.

"Do you know anything about him?" She asked, as she pulled a belt with several holsters attached to it out of the chest and buckled it around her hips.

"He's some American asshole… works for the CIA. He thinks he's still assigned to a mission here – he's really just fucking…" Vaas whistled and pointed at the side of his head, "crazy."

"Just like everyone else on the fucking island, huh." She replied irritably, as she pulled a small hunting knife out of the chest and traced her finger along the blade.

"He lives in Badtown." Vaas said after a pause, "We can get there before dawn." She wondered briefly what time it was, before coming to the conclusion that it probably was hardly even midnight yet. She pulled a small handgun out of the chest and pulled back the slide before tucking it into her holster.

"Do you know if he has anyone working for him?" She asked sceptically, digging through the chest, her back facing him. She severely hated talking to him so casually. All she wanted to do was scream at him and claw at him and kick him repeatedly in between the legs. But she kept the thought to herself.

"Not a fucking clue." He replied, "he could've hired some of the islanders in Badtown, but they're all fucking idiots anyway, no?" She pulled a long automatic rifle from the chest, and swung it over her shoulder, before finally closing the chest. She liked to bring everything with her, it gave her an extra sense of confidence.

"They're fucking idiots with guns." She said plainly, and Vaas didn't respond – he knew she was right. Anyone can be a fucking idiot, but with a gun, they could be the death of her. She tied her hair up with a leather cord as she approached him, the beads in her several braids clinking together as it swung.

"So." Vaas said, rolling his fingers. "What's the plan, hm?"

She fumed. She still wasn't accepting the idea of working with him. She suddenly fell back into her armchair, letting her head fall back and closing her eyes. "I don't fucking know."

Vaas suddenly cocked his head. "I have an idea." He said, "wait right fuckin' there, okay?"

Aio pointed her middle finger at his back as he turned and sped out her door. She dreaded whatever idea he would have come back with – if it affected him in any way he wouldn't have mentioned it and wouldn't at all be excited.

Vaas came sprinting back, bulleting through the door of her room. She had fallen asleep on the armchair, with her legs sprawled over the arm rests. "Aye!" Vaas yelled, heading towards her at pace. "Get the fuck up!"

Aio abruptly shook herself up, her eyelids heavy and her legs heavier. She lifted her head and held her hand over where her head dully ached. "What the fuck is it?" She asked uninterestedly, before suddenly remembering her previous conversation with him. She sat herself up and noticed he was holding something in his hands.

"Here." He said, throwing whatever it was at her. "Put it on."

She picked it up, separating different pieces of fabric. It was a black bikini top and a sarong. "What the fuck is _this_?" She hissed, looking at him fumingly, standing up.

Vaas rolled his eyes indignantly, and huffed. "I have a fucking idea, just _fucking _put it on."

"No!" She snapped, throwing it to the floor. She was _not_ dressing into a skimpy stripper outfit, for whatever reason he'd had in mind. Especially not at his command.  
"_Aio_." He yelled, approaching her. "Stop being an ignorant fuck for once, okay? Huntley visits the whore house in Badtown nearly every day, no? So if you could just fucking… get your head out of your ass…" He glared at her, "You could find a way to get him to let you in to his fucking bunker which is going to be a _hell_ of a lot easier than blowing it all up, no?"

She glared at him, in shock, disgust, defiance. She stiffly crossed her arms. "I'm _not_ pretending to be a whore, Vaas." Vaas fumed at her, before glaring at her threateningly.

"Do you have a better fucking idea?" He barked, his eyes wide, yet dark. She opened her mouth to speak, before she realised… she didn't have an idea. She wanted to say that they could storm in and blow it open. But the people of Badtown knew she was, and they knew who Vaas was. And they hated them both. "No? Thought not." He said suddenly, and she almost jumped at him, fist out. But she restrained herself.

"I'm not having sex with him." She said stiffly, hoping to god that Vaas hadn't implied that it was part of the plan. "Ok?"

Vaas rolled his eyes. "Of course fucking not, just… make him let you into his bunker. Then you can do whatever the fuck you want to make him say something." He watched, scrutinizing her, waiting for her response.

She sighed, before collapsing back into the armchair. "Fine." She huffed, holding her arm over her eyes. "Fine."

All in the name of Hoyt, right?

All in the name of becoming the daughter she always wanted to be.

Right?


	9. Nine - Prep

**Sorry if this chapter is confusing! The first part of it is more from Vaas' perspective than Aio's. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it :)**

* * *

Vaas was lying over Aio's large, brown leather armchair, his legs sprawled over the armrests, a cigar in between his fingers. A thin cloud of smoke hovered around his head, being sucked into his nose every time he breathed in, before pumping more smoke out of his mouth. He was watching Aio.

She was huddled in the corner, her back facing him, her hands fiddling with something. Her almost black hair was tied into a long, black ponytail, which was pulled over her shoulder. He wasn't attracted to her, was he? He'd known her for over seven years. He'd essentially known her since she was a child, so she was still a child to him, wasn't she?

He watched her as she took off her oversized, dark-red t-shirt, and pulled it over her head. Her back was smooth, with a rich, caramel tan – despite several scars, and a tribal tattoo that decorated her shoulder blade and upper spine. Leather cords hung from the back of her neck, the braid of one hanging down her back.

Once he realised how intently he was staring, he shook his head, and awkwardly looked at his cigar as he put it in his mouth and took a drag of it. He pulled it away and looked at Aio again, who was now fiddling with the cords of the black bikini he had given her to put on. She huffed, frustrated, trying to tie it around the back of her neck.

"Hurry the fuck up, chica." He snapped, before instantly regretting calling her 'chica' – he was hopeful she didn't speak Spanish. She turned her head over her shoulder.

"Fuck off." She hissed, still fiddling with the cord. Vaas sighed irately as he stood, walking over to her with his cigar in between his fingers. He grabbed the two cords and pulled them behind her neck, gently tying it into a knot. She looked at him through her peripheral vision, her head coming over her shoulder. She didn't say thank you as he stepped away and took another puff of his cigar. "You're welcome." He said sarcastically. "Hurry up."

She huffed again, as he went over to her desk, picked up her journal, and sat down on the armchair again. He opened it to the most recent page – which he realised, she had actually written when she was seventeen.

The first sentence caught his eye.

_It's disappointing, really. _

_I've spent my whole life so far trying to live up to my name. Volker. But of course, it's not like Hoyt cares, does he? And all Vaas ever wants to do is to reassure me that he's in charge of everything I do – when, realistically, I'm higher up than him. Realistically, If Hoyt is the king, then I'm the princess, which essentially makes Vaas the jester. But that's not the case, is it? _

_He's the prince. He's Hoyt's heir. He's the one that will take over the entire fucking organization when Hoyt gets shot in the head. Not me. Despite how I carry Hoyt's flesh and blood, I'm not good enough. _

_I'm not fucking good enough._

"Could you fucking leave, please?" Aio snapped, and Vaas looked up at her above the top of the journal. He couldn't help but smile a little.

"Nah." He said casually, "I'm reading." She growled, turning back to the wall.

"Don't fucking look then." She hissed.

"Ok." He responded blatantly, but didn't intend to do what she'd said. She huffed.

"Fuck you." She murmured. Vaas pretended not to hear her say it, and looked back down at the journal. But he didn't completely, and peeked back up at her. She had tucked her thumbs into her beige shorts, and pulled them down her legs, leaning forward.

Vaas watched, slightly entranced, his heart picking up in pace. Of course, she was taking off her underpants as well, as she had a pair of bikini bottoms to put on too – and all Vaas could do was stare. Internally he was swearing at himself, but he was somehow transfixed, staring at the naked ass of a girl he'd known since she was ten – therefore, he still saw her as a child, right?

But now he didn't, of course. And he just watched, captivated, as she stepped into the black bikini bottoms and shimmed them up her legs, and flicking them out to cover her butt. Vaas shook himself, quickly looking back at the journal before she turned around. He took another drag of the cigar to slow his heart down – but most of his blood had rushed somewhere else. He was glad he had the journal.

Aio tied the rich red, silky sarong around her hips, creating a light skirt. She slouched over and crossed her arms.

"There." She said sourly, "Do I look like a whore yet?"

"Yes, you do." Vaas said, trying to justify himself as he slammed the journal closed and put it down on the table. He pushed himself off of the armchair and stood in front of her, noticing a large tattoo that stretched across the side of her stomach. He wanted to ask her when she even had the time to get them, but he didn't. He turned away from her, taking a drag of the cigar with one hand and checking his gun was in his holster with the other. "Let's go."

"Aren't you going to give me anything else to wear?" She growled at him, his back facing her as he continued to walk out of her room, "Not even a weapon or something?"

"No," He snapped, "You're a whore, remember?" He turned and glared at her, "whore's don't carry weapons."

She blatantly ignored what he said, and grabbed a knife holster and buckled it around her upper thigh, before tucking a small, but sharp multipurpose blade into it. She pointed the finger at him and stormed past.

"Let's go." She hissed.

Vaas couldn't help but grin.

* * *

Aio didn't like the way Vaas had grinned at her as she walked past. It made her slightly uncomfortable – he'd never looked at her like that before. It was filled with a certain hunger, not quite lustful – more…prideful. She wrapped her arms around herself, as she stormed out of the building, with Vaas walking at pace behind her. As she stepped out, half naked, all the pirates and privateers seemed to notice her. She tried to ignore the wolf whistles and calls from the men that were dotted around the compound, on patrol, on duty.

"How much for ten minutes, Aio?" One called, the others around him laughing. She glared at him poisonously.

"Aye! I'll give you a hundred bucks to blow me, princesa!" Another yelled, holding his gun in the air. She reached back for Vaas, swiftly pulling his gun from his holster. She held out the gun, and shot him from over twenty meters away. She hit him square in the chest, and the man flew back and landed on the concrete ground. "Fuck you!" She yelled back at his body, satisfied at the rest of the pirates' sudden silence. She shoved the gun into Vaas's chest, who just looked at her, awestruck. He took the gun, and put it back into his holster. "That was unnecessary, no?"

She ignored him, heading straight to where she had parked her jeep. She liked her jeep – it was covered with graffiti from pirates who'd come on to her and she'd denied – saying things like 'bitch' or 'whore' or 'stuck up slut'. She slightly enjoyed being hated, as most of the pirates would try to pin her down and gang rape her given the chance. But Hoyt's permanent presence kept them well deterred – they weren't aware of her rough relationship with him. She didn't know whether or not Hoyt would actually help her, if she _was_ assaulted by them. Even so, not only did Hoyt being her father deter them – she took pride in the fact she was rather intimidating.

She didn't go anywhere without a gun, and the huge scar on her face that had mangled her eye didn't make her seem very approachable.

She hopped into the driver's seat of the jeep, and wrapped her fingers tensely around the driving wheel, her knuckles turning white. Vaas stepped into the passenger seat, looking at her sceptically. She knew the way to Badtown – she'd been to it several times – to the bar, or the store. She preferred going outside the compound, despite the fact the compound was on a separate island, she enjoyed taking a boat, or a helicopter, or even swimming over to the north island, and she liked the distance it brought. Of course, Hoyt eventually dragged her back to her own little hell.

"Ok hermana." Vaas said suddenly, almost like a school teacher. "Go to the airstrip, we'll take a helicopter."

She huffed. "Ok." She said stiffly, and forced her foot down onto the pedal, and drove speedily out of the compound.


	10. Ten - Willis

**I just finished Far Cry 3! And the ending almost brought me to tears. So forgive me if I made any mistakes in the appearance of people/places earlier on in the story – from hence forth it will be more accurate. **

**Thanks for reading :)**

* * *

The helicopter had landed about five hundred meters away from Badtown. Aio hopped out, her arms wrapped around her. She was shivering slightly, it was relatively cold – and she was almost naked. It got cold at night, and the helicopter blowing wind over her didn't help. Her black hair was blowing wildly around her face, the beads in it clapping together.

Vaas was waiting for her, about ten feet away. He shooed the helicopter driver, and the helicopter lifted off the ground and started to head away. She looked up at Vaas poisonously, shaking. "Fuck you." She said, when she noticed him laughing at her. "You're the one who made me wear this bullshit."

Vaas sniggered, and crossed his arms as she approached him. The wind had died down slightly as the helicopter got further away. She walked up beside him, and he put his arm around her shoulder. She almost jumped, her heart racing.

For a moment, she let him keep it there – she did slightly enjoy the warmth of it. But she wasn't used to it. She wasn't used to any close, compassionate gestures. His arm _was_ warm, and she had stopped shivering. But she shook herself and pushed him away violently, before storming ahead of him. She heard him laugh as began to walk behind her. "You looked cold, hermana." He said humorously, "I was just _being nice_."

She didn't look back at him, but continued walking, with her arms wrapped around herself, her rich, red sarong blowing silkily around her upper legs, gently licking her skin as the wind lifted it. She didn't like being dressed like a whore. It wasn't only degrading, but it wasn't like her. Growing up with so many men around her she was never allowed to dress in something that was relatively revealing. So it felt strange, having her body on display. Most of her butt and half of her breasts were visible – and she felt _naked_.

They approached the first building of Badtown, with one man standing outside it, smoking. Vaas stopped before the man noticed them, and grabbed Aio's upper arm.  
"Aye." He hissed, yanking her towards him, saying it directly into her ear. "If I'm seen we'll blow the whole fucking thing." She stared at him.

"You hiding away defeats the whole purpose of you coming with me." She snapped back, checking briefly if the man had noticed her or not.  
"Well now's the chance to fucking prove yourself, no?" He said, "If Willis hears that I'm nearby he'll scamper like a rat." She glowered at him. She was slightly scared of being left alone in Badtown – she knew of the people there. And dressed as a whore, people might not even notice she was Aio Volker – they'd think she was just a prostitute who'd gotten herself hurt.

She looked at him, slightly frightened, but trying to maintain her look of bravery. "But…" She tried to find a way to say '_I'm scared I'll get molested'_ without sounding scared – but instead she just dropped it.

"Good luck." He said mockingly, as he began to walk away. "I'll hide near his bunker… in case I hear your screams instead of his, hm?"

She didn't answer him as he walked further into the jungle. She turned away from him, and manoeuvred herself through the few trees. The jungle came to an abrupt stop, before the ground suddenly became dirty mud, with few sprouts of grass sticking out of it.

The man had noticed her, and he leant forward onto the fence. "Better watch yourself, angel." The man said, "a sexy thing like you shouldn't be wandering half naked and alone around here." He had a thick islander accent, and a floppy sunhat on his head.

She looked at him, acknowledged his comment, but continued walking. As she got closer to the town, there were more lights, and she began to see more people. And nearly all of them were piss drunk, stumbling around, yelling, and shouting at each other.

She got closer to the whore house – she had no idea if it was a better idea to go in or to just… _pretend_ she had been. She didn't know how a whore acted, though. She stopped suddenly, when she heard an American man speaking. She instantly hid behind something, watching carefully. It was Willis. His aviator sunglasses were tucked into his t-shirt, and he wore a white jacket. His hair was brought into a small, low ponytail. He was talking to one of the prostitutes.

"C'mon, Willie." The prostitute purred, "I'll give you a discount… it's just twenty minutes."

"No." Willis said sternly, before turning to walk away. The prostitute grabbed the back of his collar and he stopped.  
"I see you walking around here every day… you're the only _eye-catching_ man here, honey." She said softly, smiling slightly. She was very beautiful – but something about her made her seem… common. Maybe it was the whole prostitute thing. "There's something _sexy_ about you."

He turned and shoved her away. "I don't have sex with _whores_." He snapped, before storming away – she hoped back to his bunker.

_'__I don't have sex with whores.'_

She thought about his comment… did that mean that pretending to be a prostitute would be utterly pointless? She stepped out of behind the building, and quietly followed behind him, walking at least ten meters behind him. She tried to ignore the occasional yells and cat calls she got from the drunk islanders dotted around.

She wasn't _beautiful_. She didn't find herself _sexy_. She supposed the only reason she was getting so much attention was what she was wearing.

Her thinking abruptly came to a stop, though, when she was suddenly grabbed and tugged, before being held tightly by her waist. A tall islander man with tattoos on his arms was holding her still, his warm breath hitting her face. It smelt of beer.

"What are you doing out here, gorgeous?" The man said thickly, "you might get fucked." She frowned, struggling underneath him.

"Fuck off." She said.

"No, thank you." He said, before leaning forward, kissing the side of her neck. She put her hands on her stomach, trying to push him away. "Get the fuck off me." She said through her teeth, bucking her head in attempt to deter him. Of course, he ignored her, pushing himself forward. She began to breathe heavily, tears welling up in her eyes.

She swiftly brought her knee up between his legs, and the man jumped backwards, crippling forward. Then she threw her elbow down onto the side of his head, before kneeing him in the stomach, and he collapsed onto the ground in a fetal position. She panted, stepping away from him, wiping her eye with the back of her hand. She was thankful she hadn't put makeup on. She backed away from him, before noticing that Willis wasn't on the road.

"Fuck." She said quietly, blatantly ignoring the stares she got from nearby bystanders. She hastily marched down the street, looking intently around every corner. She didn't know where he lived, or where he was going. She quickly approached an islander woman who was leaning against the wall of a small hut made of corrugated metal, smoking a cigar.

"Excuse me." Aio said – she was surprised how polite she sounded. She'd never said _excuse me_ in a polite way before, "Have you seen a man in a white jacket walk past?"

The woman nodded plainly. "That way." She said, "Willis, right? He lives in that place down there."

Aio nodded, "thank you." She said, before hurriedly marching away down the road in the direction the woman had pointed in.

She approached the shack speedily, going straight to the door, pushing it open. She looked around the dark room – there were no doors to another room. The shack was just a box. An empty box. There was nobody in the building, and she almost burst into tears. Why couldn't he just be there? Why does everything she do have to be so _fucking _difficult?

She jumped when a voice erupted from somewhere.

"Who the fuck are you?" It said, it was an American. She imagined it was Willis, the voice was coming through some kind of speaker. What should she say? Should she pretend to be a prostitute or not? He'd said he had no interest in whores.

"I…" She stuttered, "uh…"

"You have five seconds to tell me your full name before I detonate the C4 strapped under the table and we both go up in flames." Aio was suddenly shaken, frowning in fear. She leant forward to check it he was telling the truth – and to her dismay, there were six separate bombs planted on the underside of the table. She started shaking as she desperately tried to make up her mind.  
"Aio." She said, her voice cracking slightly.

"Volker?" He asked, his voice less intense.

"Yes!" She said, exasperated, "Aio Volker!" She looked at the table, shaking, backing away from it slowly. _Stupid_, she thought. Willis was spying on her father, for fucks sake, why on earth would he let her in, let alone let her live?

"The fuck are you doing in Badtown?" He asked sceptically, his voice picking up in intensity again.

_Time for a lie. _She put on her best crying voice and began to pant. "Hoyt abandoned me!" She cried, pretending to sob helplessly, "And the privateers…" she thought of an answer, "they…" Then she just faked bursting into tears.

He didn't say anything, but a wall in the corner of the room separated itself from the rest of the building, sliding to the side – it revealed a staircase, going down into what she assumed would be some kind of basement or bunker. She slowly approached it, before stepping through it and walking shakily down the concrete stairs. She looked carefully around the corner, to see Willis leaning against the wall with his arms crossed and chin high.

"The privateers what?" He asked stiffly, looking her up and down. She held onto her upper arm with her hand and looked at the floor. She felt like it was best not to answer. She looked up at him as he started to approach her, putting on her best puppy eyes – she didn't imagine trying to look innocent would suit her, but she had to give it a try.

Willis held onto her chin and looked her in the eyes. "Why did you come here?" He asked dubiously.

"I…" _Think!_ "I knew you were spying on my father…I wanted to get him back." She said, praying to god he'd call the bluff.

Willis laughed. "What a rebel!" He said hysterically, walking away from her. His American accent was thick, much more so than the privateers she saw around the compound. Then he turned and looked at her understandingly. "You'll be safe here, sweetheart."

So much for seducing. How was she now to act like some kind of succubus? The whole intention of dressing as a whore was so he'd come on to her and she could catch him in a moment of weakness. But that didn't appear to be happening.

Willis had his back turned to her, typing something into a laptop that was sitting on a table with no desk chair. She traced her fingers up her thigh, to where her discreet holster was buckled. She slipped the knife out of it and gripped it tightly. Slowly, quietly, she approached him, walking on the balls of her feet, doing her best to not make a single sound. Then she leapt, bringing her arm around his neck, and holding the blade against his throat.

"What the fu-" he uttered, but she pulled the knife tighter and he stopped speaking.

"That's right." She said harshly, "Shut up."


	11. Eleven - Interrogation

Willis stuttered as Aio pulled the knife harder against the skin of his throat. She grabbed onto a nearby chair and yanked it out from under its table, before leading Willis towards it.

"Sit." She commanded. He didn't move. "Sit the _fuck_ down!" She yelled, and hesitantly but slowly, he sat down on the chair. She reached to the side and pulled a gun from a box of weapons he had sitting on his desk, and pulled the rope that was hanging around her torso over her head. She tied his hands and feet to the chair, watching him venomously. He looked at her, shocked, surprised, scared.

"So." She said, stepping backwards slightly, pulling back the slide on the handgun. "Willis, right? Willis Huntley." He looked at her shakily.

"Yes." He said blatantly. "Willis Huntley."

She pouted. "And you work for the CIA?"

He then glared at her, and didn't answer, keeping his lips tightly sealed. She scowled at him, before bringing the butt of the gun down on his head with a force. He cried as his face flew to the side, before he looked back at her, a steady stream of blood leaking from his nostril. "That's… none of your business." He said plainly, staring at her from under his brow.

She hit him in the head again, and with a spray of blood his head flew to the other side. "I'm not the one that is tied to a _fucking_ chair, am I?" She barked, glaring at him frighteningly with her eyes wide. "Do you work for the fucking CIA?!"

Willis sighed, his breath quivering. "y-yes." He said shakily.

"Good." She said, before smiling, "You're getting the hang of this!" He scowled at her. "Ok, next question." She walked closer to him, and crouched down, looking up at him. "Apparently," She said, before breathing on the gun and rubbing it with her sarong, "You have someone on the inside, right?"

He didn't speak.

"Apparently," She said again, taking her sarong off her hips, "someone working for you is milking all of the juicy information directly from Hoyt and spoon feeding it to you." She used Hoyt's words, and couldn't help but feel slightly proud of herself. In a rather erotic manner, she untied her sarong and gently placed it around the back of his neck, before slowly tying it into a knot. He looked at her, frightened.

"Is this true?" She asked, holding the ends of the sarong before she finished tying the knot. He didn't answer, and stretched his lips into a thin line. Aio yanked the knot, tying it off _just_ loose enough for him to continue breathing. Willis coughed, shuffling his head around, trying to loosen it. Half naked, she picked the gun off the ground and stroked it.

It was fun, acting like a prostitute while torturing him. She smiled as she approached him with it in both hands, before resting the end of it against his knee. "Is that true, Willis?" She asked sternly, watching him intently. Willis was sweating, glancing from her to the gun. After just ten seconds of silence, Aio pulled her finger down on the trigger. The gun exploded directly into his knee, causing Willis to scream, tugging relentlessly at the ropes of the chair. A small amount of blood back-splashed from the bullet, and it sprayed over her face and neck.

"Who is on the inside, Willis?!" She yelled, "You'd better _fucking _tell me before I make sure you never _fucking _walk again!"

Willis was crying, panting, whining. He didn't look at her. He couldn't lean too far forward, because it strained his neck, and the sarong wouldn't let him breathe. She giggled slightly, her demeanour quickly changing between erotic and playful, to fuming and relentless.

"Alright." She said, rolling her eyes, before shooting his other knee. He screamed again, crying hopelessly and trying to rock the chair.  
"_Fuck you_!" He screamed, "You psycho little _bitch_!"

She quickly thought of the worst thing she could do. She walked over to the table picking up her knife. She approached him, placing the blade gently on the side of his face. "Pardon me?" She asked gently, softly sliding the knife across his cheek. He didn't respond, so she dug the knife in deeper, slowly bringing it through his skin, smoothly tearing it open as blood began to poor from the wound. Willis cried again, his eyes wide, tears turning red as they mixed with the blood that covered his face.

"Who the _fuck_ is working for you!" She screamed, a fine layer of saliva spraying down over his face. "_WHO THE FUCK IS MILKING US_, HUH?"

Willis sobbed, but still didn't answer, keeping his jaw clamped shut. His cheek was moving, as he licked the inside of it, and she swore she saw his tongue sticking out of the hole in his cheek.

"I won't tell you _anything_," He hissed – his speech was slurred, however. "No matter how much you fucking beat me, you won't hear a _fucking _word from my mouth." She glowered at him. What if he didn't tell her? What if he died before he told her anything? Then it would've been for nothing, she'd have failed Hoyt and for the rest of her life be seen as even more of a let-down. So she decided to step up her game.

"I think," She purred, "we can come to a compromise." She looked up at him, catching his stare, as she slowly slid her gun in between his legs. She had her finger wrapped gently around the trigger. Willis was shaking.

"Jesus." He muttered, the word barely escaping his lips.

"How about this," she began, her voice matter-of-fact, "You give me a clue…" She looked him severely in the eyes, "…and you can keep your dick."

His breathing was trembling, his hands sweaty, blood pouring down his face and down his legs. He stared at her, terrified, not uttering a word.

"Deal?" He still didn't answer, and the gun clicked slightly as she tightened her grip on the trigger.

"Okay! Okay!" He cried, shaking, taking a moment to think of a clue. "His name… starts with S."

Aio rolled her eyes, and lifted her gun above her head. She fired it at the ceiling. "You've got to be _fucking_ joking. Seventy percent of the fucking privateers have a name that starts with S!"

Willis smiled slightly.

"You think this is funny?" She asked penetratingly, suddenly terrifyingly furious. "You think this is fucking funny, huh?" He stared at her, obviously not sure whether or not to speak.

"My _whole_ fucking life I've been the accident. And now, I'm relying on you to help me. If I can get the _name_ of the _spy_ then guess what?" He didn't say anything, "Go on, guess."

Willis still didn't answer, and instead looked at her, confused – still sobbing. "I get control over his drug cartels." She said excitedly, before she suddenly became solemn. "But if I can't get the name of this insider, Hoyt will disown me all together, right?" he looked at her warily.

"So I'll give you another chance." She moved the gun further forward, looking at him. "Tell me his name." Willis's lips quivered, sweat dripping from his forehead. "_TELL ME_ HIS _FUCKING _NAME!" She screamed, her arm shaking as she began to pull down on the trigger.

Willis took a while to answer, before he stuttered, "Fuck you."

Aio pulled her finger down on the trigger, and Willis let out the most horrific, bloodcurdling scream as he rocked his head back on the chair. He cried out, looking down at what was now a bloody mess in in between his legs.

"No kids for you, Willis!" She yelled, laughing psychotically, "Learn your _fucking _lesson!" He cried again, leaning forward. She jumped suddenly when she heard a voice behind her.

"Jesus Christ, hermana." It was Vaas, she turned and looked at him, blood over her face, in her hair, running down in between her breasts.

"He won't give." She said. Vaas laughed.

"You shot him in the dick." He said humorously, "you shot him in the _dick_." She nodded, wiping the sides of the blade on her leg, leaving a smudge of blood on her upper thigh.

"He's not telling me, Vaas." She repeated, "He's not telling me shit."

"He needs incentive!" He said loudly, taking the knife from her hand and approaching him. But he stopped suddenly, and she looked at him worriedly. "Shit." He said bluntly.  
"What is it?" She asked, approaching him.

"You dumb fucking bitch." He said harshly, turning and scowling at her, "You fucking killed him."

"W-what?" She asked again, her voice shaky, her knees weakening.

"He's dead, puta." He hissed, "Way to _fucking go_."

The bloodied gun slipped from Aio's fingers and landed on the floor, as she brought them over her mouth. "Are you serious?" She asked desperately, her fingers shaking over her nose and mouth.

"The fuck do you think?" He snapped, "his blood is fucking everywhere but inside his body, hermana."

Aio restlessly ran her fingers through her hair, as she slowly sank to the floor. "Jesus Christ." She said, before standing and walking slowly over to Willis's body.

"Hoyt's gunna be pissed." He said plainly. Aio scowled at him deeply.

"I _fucking_ know!" She yelled, "No need to fucking remind me! I'm not the one who gets a gold medal even when I _fail_." She almost burst into tears then and there, but instead held it back, causing her lip to shake. He looked at her, taken aback slightly. He began to walk towards the door.

"You gunna leave him there?" He asked, pointing at Willis's disturbingly mangled body that was still tied to the chair with the red sarong around tightly knotted around his neck, blood smothered all over his face, neck, jacket, legs, the chair, the floor, even covering her. She looked shakily at her hands, and back up at his body.

"Yes." She said bluntly, her voice trembling. "But…let me do something first." She approached Vaas, and snatched the knife from his hand. She went over to Willis, and swung the knife down from over shoulder to where it hit the side of his neck with a force. The blade burrowed keep into the side of his neck, before it hit bone and stopped. So, infuriated, she swung the blade back further behind her head and brought it down again, and again, and again, screaming in the process.

"Why couldn't you just _fucking tell me_ what his name was before you _fucking DIED?_" She yelled, bringing the knife down one more time, before Willis's head was completely separated from his body. She held it by the hair, looking at it.

"Fuckin' hell, hermana." Vaas said, shocked, glaring at her.

"'Bring me his head'." She said, repeating Hoyt's words, "That's what he told me to do." She carried it with her, tucking the bloodied knife back into her holster, wiping a small amount of blood off her eye. She walked past Vaas, who was still staring at her in awe, before saying plainly,

"I have to do something right."

She walked up the stairs, leaving a trail of blood behind her.


	12. Twelve - High Standards

**Sorry if this chapter is a bit short everyone! This chapter kind of reaches an emotional climax, before everything just turns to shit. So there wasn't much else for me to write about... I didn't want to include what Aio does next in this chapter, I'll save it for the next one. Anyways, thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy :) xx**

* * *

Aio followed Vaas out of the helicopter, holding Willis's pasted head in his elbow. The sun had begun to rise, and the horizon was covered with a bright orange light. She was still in the black bikini, but she was no longer cold. The blood on her face and chest had dried, and was now crusty, maroon smudges. Her hair was messy, tangled, knotted, bits of it dreaded together by blood. She wanted to have a shower. Now that her anger had died down, and it had completely turned to fear – she felt awful. She didn't like having the blood all over her, especially since it wasn't her own. The things she had done to Willis… were despicable. And now she was carrying his _head_ to Hoyt. All in the name of Hoyt, right?

She hoped he'd forgive her for the mistake. She had gotten the first letter of his name, at least, but not specifically what he'd told her to do. She'd show up at his doorstep with nothing he wanted, and he would tell her, "What was hard about that?"

She wiped her leaky eye as she stepped into the long grass, following Vaas onto the dirt road towards the compound. He looked back at her, smiling slightly. She scowled at him venomously, griping tighter onto Willis's hair.

"What are you going to tell him, hermana?" Vaas asked, rather humorously. His face read that he was sure as hell glad that he wasn't her. And he was right to be.  
"That I failed." She said plainly, "because I did."

Vaas raised his eyebrows and laughed. "You tried, no?" He said, and she glared at him facetiously, "But you failed." Then he looked ahead, walking at pace, "You don't get points for trying, hermana. You should know that by now."

Aio looked at the ground as she followed behind him.

* * *

Aio paced up the stairs of the main building, Willis's head in tow. She knew Hoyt would not be happy with her. In fact, she dreaded that he'd hit her… or worse. She pushed open his door quietly, to find him sitting in his arm chair, looking out the window. Classical music played from his record player in the corner of the room, and he was quietly humming along with it, while smoking a thick cigar. She walked over, and dumped Willis's head on Hoyt's desk, creating a loud thud. Hoyt turned on his chair and looked at it, before smiling at her and widening his arms in pride. He laughed.

"Fantastic!" Hoyt said. Aio smiled slightly, before Hoyt continued, "Did you get his name?"

She tried to play stupid. "Who's name?"

"The insider, for fucks sake." He said, his face sceptical, "The reason I sent you to kill Willis in the first fucking place." Aio swallowed.

"All I got out of him was the first letter…" She said quietly, her voice shaky, "…he died before he told me anything else." Hoyt's lips stretched into a thin line.

"The fuck do you mean?" He asked stiffly. She looked down at her feet, and curled her bare toes, fiddling with her thumb. She swallowed.

"He bled out." She said quietly, her voice wary, "I shot him in the cock and both knees and he bled to death…I didn't notice..." Hoyt glowered at her.

"You'd better be joking, Aio." He hissed, "Didn't you get anything from him? Anything at _all_?"

Aio sighed guiltily and ran her hand through her bloodied hair. "Just the first... letter of the imposters name." Hoyt slammed his hand onto the desk, causing the things on it to bounce.

"All you _fucking _got was the first _fucking _letter!?" He yelled, making her jump, "How the _fuck_ am I going to use that? What was the letter?" She looked at him innocently.

"S." She said quietly.

"What, so I'm supposed to round up every fucking privateer whose name starts with S and kill every one of them? One by fucking one?" He shouted, stepping out of his chair and began to pace back and forth, "Do you think that's going to _fucking _help me, Aio?"

Aio stepped backward slightly, twiddling her thumbs, tears welling in her eyes. "No." She said quietly, her voice shaking, "but-"

"That's it." He yelled, "That's it."

"W-what?" She uttered, looking at him like a beaten puppy.

"You're not getting the fucking role." He hissed, "There's no way in hell you're in charge of the drugs, Aio. Not with that fucking performance." She began to cry, wiping some of the blood off of her face. "One fucking task, Aio! And you couldn't _fucking _do it."

"But-"

"_Go!_" He shouted, "Get the _fuck_ out of my sight!" She sobbed, slowly backing away from him, her arms shaking with fear and anger. "Oh," He said suddenly, poison in his tone, "And you're not working with Vaas again." He paused, scowling at her, "I don't like the way he's been looking at you recently."

Enough.

She'd had enough. She'd had enough trying and failing. She'd had enough of being the mistake.

"Fuck you." She said, her voice quivering with newfound rage.

"Excuse me?" Hoyt snapped, stopping in his place.  
"Fuck you!" She yelled again, "All my _fucking_ life I've tried so hard to be good enough for you!"

Hoyt was taken aback, his anger suddenly draining from his face. "Aio-"

"_No_!" She shouted, "I'm not good enough, am I? I'm sorry I'm here Hoyt. But if I'm that much of a fucking mistake you should have _killed_ me when I was a _fucking _baby!"

"Aio, stop-"

"I'm _done_, okay!?"

"Aio, listen-"

"I'm fucking _done_."

And with that, she turned and stormed out of the room without giving him a chance to respond.


	13. Thirteen - Sting

**Just wanted to say... thanks so much for reading! Just as an unnecessary warning, this chapter contains half a sex scene... it will continue into the next one ;)  
Hope you enjoy xx**

Aio walked down the main road through the compound, her head hanging low. She'd gotten changed into a dark red singlet and green cargos. Even though she'd showered, she still smelt like old blood. She didn't bother carrying her weapons with her. Her boots were untied, the tongue hanging loose, the laces trailing along behind her. She walked over to the pub, and pushed the door open. Immediately in front of her, an unconscious man lay sprawled on the floor in the corner of the room. She went over to the bar, past several pirates playing poker. She sat on the stool and put her head in her hand.

"Hey, Aio." The bartender said. His name was Jack… just another privateer that Hoyt had hired. She didn't understand why Jack would have chosen to be a bartender over a soldier, all he did was get thrown abuse from all the piss drunk pirates who showed up at his feet.

"Hi." She said dully, tapping her fingers on the bar surface. "Something strong." Jack raised his eyebrows.

"Vodka?" He asked, looking at her inquisitively. She nodded, meshing her hands together and resting on her elbows. He poured it quickly, and put the dripping glass on the bar. She immediately took it and brought the glass to her lips, taking three large gulps before putting the glass back on the bar. She looked down at her fingers dully, her eyes dark.

"What's wrong, huh?" Jack asked. She looked at him, smirking slightly.

"It's just Hoyt." She said plainly, "My life is just… turning to shit." She didn't like talking about her problems, usually, but Jack was a good person to take her anger out on. "I'm just a mistake to him."

"Huh." Jack said, grabbing another glass and cleaning it. "I figured you'd come complaining about Vaas." He looked at her, waiting for a response.

"Yeah." She replied, "But he's been…okay lately. Hoyt told me I'm not allowed to see him, though. Apparently he doesn't like the way Vaas has been _looking _at me." She made quotations with her fingers, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"He's a psychopathic cocksucker." Jack said bluntly. He poured himself a drink, after she took another gulp of the cold, clear vodka he had given her. Aio smiled as she put the drink back down on the bar.

"Like me." She said blatantly. Jack sniggered. _Like her_. She was psychopathic. She knew it, too. She briefly thought about Willis, and wondered what Hoyt would have done with his head. His head she viciously severed from his neck because he wouldn't crack under her brutal torture.  
"So, what happened?" Jack asked, drinking out of his glass of beer. She'd finished her vodka, and her head started to hurt. She leaned back in the stool and crossed.

"The usual." She said, "I'm just… not good enough for him. I don't get points for trying." She quoted what Vaas had said, and it was a fair point. She didn't get points for trying. Really… she didn't get points for anything.

"Bite back." Jack said plainly, smirking slightly. She looked at him and rose and eyebrow.

"Huh?" She queried.

"Get him back." He repeated, "Do something he said not to. He won't exactly forgive you… but you know. It might make you feel better, huh?" She looked at him, considering his point. It would make her feel better.

But she didn't want Hoyt to hate her. She still loved him, right? And doing something to piss him off would just make it worse. He seemed at a point that he would be willing to shoot her in the head next time she failed. Or at least force her into exile, sell her… or something worse. "Another one, please." She said dully, and Jack instantly filled up her glass with more vodka.

She brought it quickly to her lips and drank the glass in one go, before slamming it on the bar again. She wiped her mouth, her vision starting to blur. Her head ached.

"No more for you, hun." Jack said sternly. "Hoyt will flay me alive otherwise." Aio rolled her eyes and slipped off of the stool. She had an idea. A terrible, spiteful, vindictive idea. A stupid, impulsive, reckless idea. She knew acting on her impulse was never a good thing to do… especially when she was drunk. And she was already _piss_ drunk. She waved briefly at Jack as she walked at pace out of the bar.

"Bye then." Jack said dully as she began to walk away.

_You're an idiot, Aio_, she thought to herself.

* * *

Aio approached Vaas's corrugated metal shack. The side of the wall had a splash of blood up the side, a fair amount of graffiti adorning it. His jeep was parked untidily near it, with a corpse in the passenger seat. She took a deep breath and walked up to the door. It wasn't like her to knock. She wasn't in the mood to knock. She was too drunk to care, either. She shoved it open.

Vaas was, fortunately, sitting on a chair, next to the table against the far wall of the shack. He was slouched over the table, fiddling with something. She couldn't see what it was.

"Vaas." She said plainly, making him jump slightly. Vaas didn't look at her though, instead slouched over, making a loud sniffing noise. She realised quickly he was snorting something… probably cocaine. She'd never tried cocaine… and she didn't intend to. She knew she was addicted to dope, but Hoyt never let her snort. And she didn't have much interest in the idea. But, of course, Vaas was in charge of himself. He wiped his nose and turned to look at her. "The fuck do you want." He snapped, standing. She looked at him, holding her place.

"I don't know." She said plainly. Her palms were sweaty, she shuffled her fingers. He looked at her strangely. Her vision was blurry.

"Then get the fuck out of here." He hissed. She grinned slightly, and crossed her arms. Vaas turned back to the table and snorted another line of coke.

"How many times have you had sex, Vaas?" She asked blatantly. Vaas coughed, turning to look at her. He frowned.

"What?" He asked, with a tone of mild humour, "are you drunk, hermana?" She shrugged, kicking at the floor.

"Maybe." She said, before raising her eyebrows, "but?" She pushed for his answer. She was genuinely curious as to what the answer was, at least, the drunk side of her was.

"I don't fuckin' know." He said, leaning back in his chair, "twice?" Aio pouted. _Stop acting on impulse_, she thought to herself. She resisted the urge to hit herself in the head. Vaas looked at her sceptically, and neither of them spoke. She kicked off her boots and dumped on the floor.

Without a word, Aio grabbed the bottom of her red singlet, and pulled it over her head. Vaas stared at her, half in shock, half in excitement. "Aio…" He said doubtfully, looking at her. _What the fuck are you doing_? She thought, scolding herself internally. She crossed her arms, holding them over her breasts. Vaas stood slowly, holding onto the armrest of his chair.  
"Aio, don't." He said plainly. She walked over to him, and he faltered slightly. "What are you doing, hermana…" She approached him, standing a few inches from him. She looked at his chest, not at his face. _Aio, what are you doing?_ She asked herself. She felt like only half of her brain was piss drunk, and the other moral half was… trying to convince her otherwise.

She put her hand around the back of his neck, and pulled him into her. She pushed his lips against hers. Vaas was rigid, unmoving. His arms stayed completely still. She wrapped her arms around him, her fingers sweaty, and her arms shaky. Her stomach hurt… but she ignored it. Her heart was racing to much to care. What the fuck was she doing?

Kissing the man she'd hated her entire life. The man who killed the only person who actually cared about her. The man who worked for her father. The man who spent every day of his life telling her what to do. The man she'd known since she was ten. The man she hated more than any living thing on the planet. Right?

Vaas suddenly gripped the sides of her waist, abruptly pulling her in, finally kissing her back. Aio was breathing fast, her heart racing so quickly she couldn't feel the separate beats. Adrenaline pumped down her arms and legs, making her shake. They weren't the symptoms of being _in love_. She wasn't _nervous_. She was _terrified_. She was making a stupid mistake. A _stupid_ mistake. What was she doing? Hoyt would kill her. Literally… _kill _her.

Vaas's tongue was inside her mouth, one arm around her waist, and his other hand meshing with the hair on the back of her head. He moved forward, and pushed her violently up against the wall, holding her up by her hips. Aio breathed heavily as he pulled his lips away from her mouth, tracing them down her jaw, stopping at her tattoo covered neck. He bit the side of her neck, holding her still. _Aio, stop!_

She reached behind his back, gripping on to the back of his red singlet. He pulled away briefly, as she lifted the singlet over his head and dumped it onto the floor. His chest was sweaty, his breath smelled of alcohol. She almost guaranteed that hers did too.

Her bottom lip quivered, as she wrapped her legs around his hips, locking her bare feet together. He grabbed her thighs hungrily, sucking at her collarbone. She didn't make a sound, save for the shallow, trembling breaths that escaped her slightly open lips.

Jesus Christ, was she enjoying herself? No. No she wasn't. She couldn't be, she was just very drunk. She was just trying to get back at Hoyt, though…right? And she _hated_ Vaas.

Right?


	14. Fourteen - Retribution

**Sorry it's late! Smut alert. **

* * *

Shoved up against a wall, Aio was having difficulty breathing. She was already piss drunk after drinking two straight up glasses of vodka, and she felt relatively nauseous. Her heart was racing, and her neck pulsing a lot faster than it should have been.

She had her legs wrapped around Vaas. Her enemy. Her nemesis, even. Alcohol did terrible things to her brain. And there she was. On the very brink of fucking her ultimate rival… what was she doing? Vaas was holding her up, his hands holding her up tightly by her thighs. He was passionately kissing where her neck met her shoulder, and along her collarbone. She had her face tucked into his shoulder, her arms around his neck.

He wasn't forcing himself onto her. She'd die before she let that happen. And he'd never do it, either, not to someone like her. Hoyt would tie him to a cross and flay him alive if he even tried. In fact, really, she forced herself onto him. The fucking idiot she was, she coaxed him, seduced him, like the antagonistic succubus she knew was.

Vaas suddenly pulled away, breathing heavily, before wiping his mouth and setting her feet back down onto the floor. He stood back slightly, looking at her solemnly. "I can't do this, hermana." He said dryly. She stood, leaning against the wall, her torso exposed. She looked down at her fingers and she fiddled with them. She didn't think he'd back away, did she? Vaas didn't really seem like that sort of person.

"Why not?" She asked, her voice cracking. She felt suddenly exposed, like her situation had only just dawned on her. Vaas rubbed the back of his neck and sighed indignantly.

"You hate me, no?" He said, "And you're also piss drunk…" He sighed again, rolling his eyes. "Hoyt's gunna murder me."

"I…" She tried to think of something to say. There wasn't much to say, in fact, nothing at all she could say to justify what she was doing. "I wouldn't let him."

"No, no, no, no, Aio, don't be fuckin stupid," He said impatiently, "it's not like he'd do anything _you _say, hermana."

Aio looked down, and her eyes suddenly welled up. Several tears leaked out of her left eye… her right eye didn't cry anymore. She sobbed. He was right. But with so much emotional turmoil in one day, her body was slowly being torn apart from the inside. Hoyt would never do what she said. And if he did find out, she'd not only kill him, but her as well. And look what she'd gotten herself into? Too much alcohol, right? Not only did she fail her father, but now he saw her as nothing. And now she was in an awkward position of debating whether or not to run from Vaas or just… kiss him again. It didn't seem like he wanted to have sex with her. But that was her intention, right?

Hoyt would kill her. And if she went through with it, Vaas would most likely end up feeling like he had territory over her. He'd control her like a servant, no other pirate would be allowed to touch her. He'd treat her like she belonged to him. Vaas was possessive. And she knew that. Yet here she was.

But, despite her crippling inner turmoil… she kissed him again. She forced herself onto him, pushing her tongue into his mouth, wrapping her arms firmly around his neck. He wasn't rigid though, nor was he defensive. Some part of him wanted it, and she knew that. She could tell, just by the way he reacted.

He kissed her back, holding his arms tightly around her stomach. He lifted her slightly, her feet getting lighter off the floor. He moved her forward, pulling away from her and abruptly but forcefully pushing her down onto the mattress that lay on the floor, with a blanket sprawled over it. She landed on her back, bouncing slightly as she hit the old mattress. He stood over her, his demeanour immediately changing. He looked down on her, his face as hard as stone. His face was so plain, so emotionless, she had no idea what he was feeling. There was no sense of excitement, or arousal… yet no sense of doubtfulness or awkwardness or any form of guilt whatsoever.

He crouched forward, kneeling over her, his knees on either side of her thighs. He reached down and unbuttoned her green cargo pants, and along with her underwear, shimmied them down her thighs and slid them down her knees, before pulling them completely off her legs. He threw them to the floor before crawling forward and holding himself over her by his arms, looking her directly in the eyes.

"If Hoyt ever finds out," He said sternly, his eyes looming, "you're taking the fuckin' blame."

She looked up at him guiltily, her eyes wet and her hands flat by her sides. The question that was going through her mind was only whether or not Hoyt would believe that it was her fault. "I know." She replied bleakly.

What if she got pregnant? That could possibly be the worst outcome, the worst thing that would ever happened to her. She'd never even _considered_ having kids, let along having sex with someone – the only men she had some form of access to where either privateers, pirates or… islanders. Like that would ever happen, though.

What if Hoyt never forgave her? There was still some remnants of some kind of affection between him and her. She still cared about him, and she still cared about his feelings towards her. Though he never showed it in any form of physical or verbal contact, she knew – _hoped_ – that some part of Hoyt cared for her as well. But what if, after this, that remnant of fatherly feelings vanishes? What if he completely and utterly _disowns_ her?

Aio sobbed again, but again kissed Vaas as she did so.

It felt strange, kissing someone while crying at the same time. She didn't feel distant, she didn't feel uncomfortable, and she wasn't crying because she didn't want to be there. She was so drunk she didn't really even know how she felt. But she was emotional nonetheless, and she was crying while fully devoting to the fact that she was going to have sex with him. Jesus Christ, she was going completely insane…

She lay underneath him, completely naked. Their tongues were intertwining, he fell to his elbows, holding himself up by them. He pulled away briefly, only to immediately start biting the side of her neck. She hastily reached for the buckle of his cargo pants, before immediately undoing the button and pulling down his fly. _A quick game's a good game_, she thought.

Her heart raced, fluttering almost, and she struggled to keep her breath up with it. She was panting, almost, but not in pleasure. She was utterly terrified. After all, she was still a virgin – she hadn't wasted her virginity on some dickhead pirate or privateer. But now she was _wasting _it on Vaas. She was making a stupid mistake, yet she refused to stop.

She lifted her knees, wrapping her legs over his back, intertwining her toes. He ravenously grabbed her hips, and without a single word of warning, bucked his hips and thrust himself into her. She gasped as he did so, instantly regretting her decision to have sex with him in the first place. She'd never expected it to hurt as much as it did. Supposedly, she wasn't really in the right state of mind. And yet, she willingly wandered into his shack, stripped herself, and essentially forced herself onto him. Anger fuelled sex, she decided, was not a good idea… especially if her anger wasn't even directed at the person she was having sex with.

She whimpered has he thrust again, trying her best to hide the fact that not only was she terrified, but in relative pain as well. He didn't seem to notice, though, gripping hungrily at the sides of her waist, pulling her abruptly towards him each time he thrust forward.

To hide her slight discomfort, she wrapped her legs tighter around him, and gripped the back of his neck with her hand, pulling him back into a messy, meaningless, empty kiss. He was evidently enjoying himself than she was… but, she had begun to like it herself. Just a bit though. She hated herself too much to really relish the feeling. And it's not like she loved Vaas, did she?

She hated him. She had to repeatedly tell herself that, before she actually forgot how much she despised him. She_ hated_ him, right? It was just the alcohol talking. Hoyt was the only person she actually cared about, right? She didn't even know anymore. The vodka had just slurred her thoughts into some disorganized, chaotic, indistinguishable blur of random emotions… making her ability to make good decisions very difficult – probably why she was there in the first place.

Vaas grunted, knocking her out of her reverie, as he continued to steadily rock her, his head hovering above hers. He was breathing heavily, sweat building on his forehead and neck. She put her hands on either side of his face, pulling his head closer to hers, holding it so their foreheads were touching. She started to move with him, as he thrust forward again, a slight moan escaping her lips. _Shut up!_ Aio almost hit herself in the head. She was not enjoying herself.  
But it felt_ good_, didn't it? _No it doesn't_. She squeezed her eyes shut, quietly holding her breath. She needed to get it over with. She'd changed her mind. She didn't want to be there anymore. She'd finally accepted the fact that she'd made an awful mistake. But she didn't want to move, did she? Half of her wanted to stay underneath Vaas. The other half wanted to push him off and run crying to Hoyt. She bit her bottom lip as he thrust again, groaning loudly, as he finally came. She didn't, though, she refused to let herself. He fell over her, his head falling over her shoulder. He huffed, panting into her ear. His free hand traced down the side of her torso. He rolled off of her, lying on his back. He held his arm over his eyes and laughed slightly.

"Shouldn't have done that, huh." He said ironically. Aio didn't respond, instead she sat forward and put her head in her hands.

"_Fuck_." She said quietly, her voice quivering.

Vaas looked at her from under his arm. "Nobody can find out, huh?" He said stiffly, "or your daddy will have my head impaled on the antenna of his car." She put her head in her hands and sniffed. Without another word, she stood up. She threw her singlet over her head, and pulled her cargo pants up her legs. She stepped into her boots, and immediately pushed open the door of the shack, and ran speedily away.

_You are a fucking idiot, Aio_.

_What have you done?_


	15. Fifteen - Oblivious

**Sorry it's been so long - I've had lots of tries and fails on how I wanted to continue from the previous chapter!**

Aio pushed her bedroom door open, and slammed it closed behind her. Her temper was that of a twelve year old girl, and almost always was. She had no one to be mad at, though, not anymore. She was solely mad at herself. Leaning against her door, she slowly slid down it to sit. She tore out the leather band in her hair, and had her fingers pulling at the roots of her hair as she stared intensely at the floor.

She felt dirty. She felt ashamed. She was so utterly disgusted with herself that she and to close her eyes and lower her head to stop herself from vomiting.

It was night. She didn't know what time, as she couldn't see the moon from her window. Not even a sliver of moonlight shone through her blinds, only that of fire pits that privateers had lit outside.  
She clenched her eyes closed, holding her hands over the back of her head as she let it sink between her knees. Then she suddenly broke into tears. She sobbed loudly, her chest convulsing as she tried to take breaths between them. She squeezed tears out of her eyes, and they fell directly from her eyelashes, making a small patter as they hit the floorboards.

She wanted a hug. She _needed _a hug. Some stupid part of her desperately cried for forgiveness from Hoyt, the father who'd had his back turned to her since she was born. The other half of her wanted him to feel the same. She wanted him to come crying to her. She wanted him to realize that he'd always been her father and that he'd hug her and tell her how unbelievably sorry he was for never being there for her. But he wasn't going to do that.

She didn't understand why she failed to accept it. Hoyt had _never_ treated her like she was his daughter. Twenty years she'd just been another worker for him. Yet she still didn't accept it.  
But in a sense, he had been there for her, hadn't he? Because she was still alive. She hadn't been sold or raped or kidnapped or murdered or caged or drowned or burned. He'd always protected her, he never let anyone touch her.

So now, her brain was torn to shreds, each little piece with separate feelings and thoughts and emotions that were so strong yet opposing that her head felt like it was going to explode. She wanted to apologize to him. But she wanted him to apologize to her. _Ugh!_

Shakily, wiping her eyes, sniffing, she pushed herself up and slipped out of her bedroom door.

Aio hesitated before she knocked on Hoyt's door. Her hand shook a little, as if it itself was still deciding whether or not to turn around and leave. Her last argument with him flashed before her, shorty reminding her of what she was walking into.

But her fist fell to the door anyway, and she knocked it lightly three times.

"Who the fuck is it." She heard Hoyt say through the door, and she briefly wondered if she should leave it at that and walk away. But she didn't, so she twisted the old, wobbly metal handle and gently pushed the door open.

"It's me," she said sheepishly, looking at the floor rather than him. She gently closed the door behind her but didn't take a single step towards his desk. He was, as usual, leaning back in his leather chair, with his feet propped up on the desk surface, and a thick brown cigar smoking between his fingers.

"What is it, Aio." He asked stiffly – but she was rather thankful he hadn't asked it with forced or instead said, 'What the fuck do you want?'

She took a while to gather an answer. "I," she said, pausing, thinking of words to say, "I wanted to apologize." She finally gathered the nerve to look up at him.

"Aio…" He leant forward and placed his cigar on the metal ashtray on his desk.

"No, I'm sorry." She said sharply, "I'm sorry I didn't get the frauds' name, I'm sorry I killed Willis too quickly, I'm sorry swore at you, I'm sorry for smoking weed when you told me not to, I'm sorry for not listening to y-you…" Her voice started to quiver as tears began to well up in her eyes, "…I'm s-sorry for being useless enough that even V-Vaas surpassed me… I'm sorry I lost my eye… I'm…"

Hoyt looked at her cautiously as she gathered her last words,

"…I'm s-sorry I was born, Hoyt."

"Aio, stop-" He tried to say, but Aio cut him short again.

"I'm _sorry_." She said finally, exasperated, before suddenly breaking down into tears. She sobbed, putting her head in her hands, her dark hair hanging over her face. She heard him walk up to her, so she lifted her head slightly and pulled her hair behind her ears. She sniffed.

"Aio…" He said, not sincerely… almost emotionlessly. "It was wrong of me to take you in."

She almost began to yell, before he continued.

"If I hadn't, you may not still be free or alive but you'd have had a childhood that you didn't have here. You'd have had other kids to play with, nobody constantly drinking or smoking or killing people."

She stopped crying, biting the inside of her lip as she watched him.

"It was a horrible thing to expose you to things that you've seen. Nothing good can come from seeing that. Especially as a child. You didn't belong here, Aio." He said, "but you've changed. Probably for the worse. But for the better, in your case." He looked at her, his face plain, and there was no way she could tell what he was feeling.

"You're surprisingly strong, Aio." He said, "…I'm proud of you." She looked at him, shocked, her eyes wide – but froze, when out of nothing, he reached forward and wiped a single tear off her cheek with his thumb. Her bottom lip quivered, before he turned around and stepped away. She suddenly felt half of the weight lifted off her shoulders. The remaining half was what she'd done with Vaas. Why couldn't she just go back in time and reverse what she'd done? She shuddered.

"Look." He said, walking behind his desk and leaning against it. "I know you tried with Willis."

"What did you do with his head?" She asked quietly.

"Some fuck bought it off me." He said, before he continued, "But, anyway, I've got an idea."

She remained still, not responding in any dramatic way, but just played with her thumbs, cracking her knuckles. She didn't really feel like a new job. She wanted to hug him, but that'd be stretching it.

"There's a whole pack of new recruits coming in tomorrow." He said. "_I _have to deal with the fucking insider. So, I would like you to take care of the recruits."

"What?" She asked, not excited, slightly terrified.

"I'll do the talking to begin with." He said, "then you can be in charge of assigning them to their posts."

Aio just stared at him. "You're joking, right?" She asked, unable to take him seriously.

"For fucks sake, of course not." He snapped, "if you pick yourself up and get over yourself I think you'd do quite well."

She was speechless. "Seriously?" She asked again. He can't have forgiven her so quickly. As much as that is what she'd wanted, she most certainly didn't expect it. Thus she didn't really believe him. "What on earth makes you think that I'm lying to you?"

"Oh, I don't know." She said sarcastically, "maybe it was the fact you disowned me several hours ago." He glared at her.

"Jesus Christ, Aio." He said impatiently, but he said nothing else. He stepped back behind his desk and collapsed into his leather desk chair. He took a deep breath and looked at her. "I didn't disown you."

She was growing angered. "Well you certainly fucking gave me the impression." She hissed. Hoyt just pouted at her.

"So." He said, leaning forward and grabbing the short, smoking cigar off of the ashtray on his desk. He took a drag of it before holding it between his fingers. "Deal?"

"Hoyt, the privateers will treat me like a piece of meat." She said plainly.

Hoyt laughed. "Not while I'm still breathing." He said, "besides," he paused, looking at her, "you're not exactly… approachable." She frowned at him. "So?" He asked, pushing again. She wondered sometimes if he just made it seem like he'd forgiven her so she'd do what he asked.

Aio sighed. "Fine." She replied, exasperated. He could never know about what she'd done with Vaas. Part of her hoped that Vaas would die so she'd never have to think about it again. But that wasn't going to happen, so she might as well have tried to impress Hoyt if he ever got close to finding out.

"Fantastic." Hoyt said, a large grin spread across his face. "the ship arrives at ten."

She turned to leave, intending to leave without another word.

"And Aio," He said quickly, just before she walked out the door, "I want you to have a gun with you permanently from now on."

She nodded, and left.


	16. Sixteen - Pink Cheeks

**Sorry it's been a while :)**

The following morning, Aio woke up surprisingly early. Well, she assumed so, as Vaas hadn't come into her room and woken her up. She had a particularly bad hangover, and moreover, every area between her legs hurt. She would have instinctively gone for some weed – but Vaas had taken her last one. She growled. There wasn't enough time for her to head all the way to the drug fields to get more and get to the cenote in time for the new recruits. Though she _desperately _needed some. She briefly considered going to ask Vaas for some – and then she changed her mind. She didn't want to see him.

She got changed into a tight red t-shirt and camo cargo pants that were decked with pockets. She pulled her arms through a brown anorak jacket with a hood hanging down the back. She briefly remembered that Hoyt had told her to carry a gun with her, so she grabbed her leather holster that was lying on the ground next to her armchair, and strapped around her upper thigh. Then she picked up the large handgun off her desk and tucked it in. Stepping into her dirty black boots, she pushed open the door and walked down the corridor.

Reddish-orange light was finally beginning to show as she made her way out of the main door. The air was humid but colder than usual, and there wasn't a single trace of a breeze. There were very few privateers hanging around. She noticed one having sex with a prostitute against the side wall of the bar. It seemed like a casual occurrence to her, so she didn't stare or shudder or giggle. She walked past, trying to ignore the killer headache that was erupting from inside her skull, and the pain from the bruises on her thighs and hips and waist.

Her jeep was parked near the exit of the compound, just outside the tall, thick rusted metal gate. She slipped through the small crack and jumped into the driver's seat, before shoving her keys in and revving the engine. The ride to the cenote was about ten or so minutes. Of course she kept running in to drunk privateers driving wildly down the dirt roads so she had to swerve to avoid them.

The drive to the cenote was about ten minutes from the compound. She came down the dirt road through a small valley, spying one privateer sitting guard on a rusty chair with a bottle of beer in his left hand. She parked behind a palm tree, jumping out of the jeep, and pulling her knife out of the glove box before tucking it into the side of her boot. The privateer glanced at her as she slammed the jeep door shut and walked past him.  
"The fuck are you doing here?" He asked her, and she shrugged.

"No idea." She said plainly.

She had no choice but to take the rickety metal stairs that went down the walls of the cenote. At each landing a drunk inept privateer stood guard, holding their guns, and yelling at the man who stood on the landing across and below from. She walked past each one, each of them asking her what she was doing of there, and each time she would respond with something along the lines of 'fuck off'. She finally reached the bottom of the stairs, which led into a network of caves. She had to stop every now and then and ask someone which way to take to get to the dock.

Hoyt was sitting on his furnace in the middle of the cave when she arrived. The cave was sort of like a stage, looking out onto the dock, and the underground river that would eventually lead to an opening and the ocean. He had several privateers in heavy body armour standing around him. He had a cigarette in his mouth, and he was flicking a dud lighter that he held underneath it.

She just stood there, waiting for him to notice her. She didn't feel like confronting him, her head hurt too much for her to bother.

"Ah, Aio." He said, "I didn't expect you so early."

She looked at him. "What time is it?"

He glanced at a dirty watch on his wrist, "ten to ten." He said.

That wasn't that early, the recruits were due to arrive in ten minutes. "I'm not early." She said plainly.  
"Well, I'd expected you to be a lot later." He said, "you weren't exactly sober last night, were you?"

She looked at the floor. "I didn't sleep very well." She mumbled. "I could use some weed, though."

Hoyt pouted, and didn't respond. He didn't appreciate her repeated smoking of marijuana – though in the conditions she was raised in, he shouldn't have expected much less. She suddenly jumped when she heard a muffled scream from inside of the furnace Hoyt was sitting on. Hoyt yelled and kicked the side of it violently with the back of his foot. "Shut the fuck up, you little shit." He shouted at it. There was a muffled whimper following.

"Who's in there?" She asked, nodding at the furnace. Hoyt smiled.

"Sergeant Joshua Allen." He said. "Turns out he'd stolen a whole lot of cocaine and sold it privately."

She looked at the small bars at the front of the furnace, unable to see the face inside. "Oh." She responded dully.

"That was a bad idea, huh, Josh?" He said mockingly, banging the side of the furnace with his heels. There was a deafening, echoing horn sound as the boat containing the new recruits came through the entrance of the cave. She watched as the boat approached them, before slowly coming to a halt at the edge of the small dock below the cave she was standing in.

Aio watched as Hoyt hopped off the furnace and stepped onto the front of the boat. She assumed he was going to talk to the captain about something. So she just waited for a bit, before walking over to the furnace. She crouched down in front of the small hole, with bars covering it, before looking inside.

"Why would you do that?" She asked, seeing his face. He had a gag in his mouth, and all he could make was a muffled whine. She felt quite bad. "It was a bad mistake."

"I needed the money." She vaguely heard him say, as his voice was completely stifled. "I had to get out of here." There was a pause, while she thought about it. Before he said, "I hate this place."

She looked down. "So do I." She said quietly. "Sorry." She added, before she stepped away. She didn't want to feel bad for him, because she was soon to witness him burn to death. Hoyt had come back, leaping up onto the stage-like cave. There was a privateer – not a new one – who had a scanner in his hand, scanning the dog tags of each of the new recruits that walked past onto deck at the front of the boat. They formed a small, but seemingly organized crowed, all of them talking quietly to each other. A few of them pointed at her and murmured. Her heart raced as she grew more nervous, so she headed to the back of the cave in attempt to make herself less obvious. She didn't really want to be in charge of them, but she wanted to make up to Hoyt. Not that he knew what she'd done. She shuddered again.

A silence fell among the crowd of recruits as Hoyt cleared his throat, meshing his hands together and standing at the end of the cave. Aio watched, anticipating what he was going to say.  
"Ah, my fresh, pink recruits." He said, crooning sarcastically. "You are here, for a very brief orientation from me. I have some other shit to do, so we'll make this quick."

"I'm an… understanding boss. But there are three rules you _must_ not break." He paused, and raised one finger. "First of all. Protect my product. You must know by now that this organisation distributes weapons, drugs and slaves across the globe. Keep in mind, you can fuck the girls, but don't… damage them." There was a small cheer from the crowd when he said that. Aio grimaced.

"Secondly. Any native you see – kill them." Another cheer.

"And, finally… all profits – every last _cent_ – goes to me." He stated, but there wasn't a cheer following that. He backed away from the front of the crowd, heading towards the furnace. "And if you so much as _think_, about breaking one of these rules," He paused, before pulling a matchbox out of a pocket on his trousers, and pulling out a match. Aio didn't really want to watch, but she didn't want to hide or scream or whimper. So she bit the inside of her lip as Hoyt lit the match, and chucked it inside the furnace. She assumed he filled it with petrol, as when the match fell in, it almost exploded. The man inside – Joshua – screamed, thrashing his head about, kicking the inside of the furnace. The fire continued to burn after he went silent and still. Aio swallowed.

"I'll cook you in my furnace until your skin _bubbles_." He said deeply, rolling his tongue. The crowd of recruits was almost silent. "Alright, that's it. Good luck, boys." He said, turning to leave. He stopped though, and turned back. "Oh, I almost forgot."

Aio looked at him. "There's a fourth rule." He said, before he turned towards her. He walked up to her and grabbed her by the arm, dragging her in front of the crowd. She looked down at them, her heart speeding, her palms sweaty. "This is Aio." He said, followed by several wolf whistles from the men on the boat. Hoyt pouted menacingly, "She is my daughter. And she is _completely_ off limits to every single one of you. She is not to be flirted with, hit on, touched, followed, or fucked in any way or form, okay?" She glared at him, shocked, relatively embarrassed.

"She is also your new boss." He paused, and the crowd murmured. "I have a very dire problem to deal with. And until I have fixed this problem, she will be in charge of you. You must do what she says, when she says it. Understood? You are to assemble in the compound this afternoon so she can assign you in squadrons." She looked at the crowd, and back at Hoyt nervously.

"But if you so much as touch her," He said threateningly, "I'll flay you before I roast you." Then he left Aio where she stood and left the cave.


	17. Seventeen - Orientation

**Hi everyone :)**

**Sorry it's been so long again, I haven't been busy or stressed so I really have no excuse except for the fact I ran dry of ideas. But here I am with a new one that really comes out of nowhere but I have decided leads on to another portion of the story. **

**Anyways, thank you for any favs/follows and bothering to read it in general 3**

**Cossomer x**

Aio stepped out of Hoyt's office, after having been given a lecture by Hoyt as to what to tell the newly recruited privateers. She didn't want to be in charge of them – not overly. She was, however, excited to have some form of authority over Hoyt's men that didn't come from the fact she was his daughter. He had told her that the privateers had been told to meet at around about three o'clock. She didn't want to be late, so she went to went to her room to gear up. It's not as if she needed to have all of her weapons tied to her back, hips and legs, but she felt like it would make her seem more… intimidating. She assumed that the privateers wouldn't find a girl like her intimidating anyway. But it was worth giving it a try, right? So, with a sawed-off shotgun strapped to her back, a pistol tied to her thigh, and a knife tucked into her boot, she walked out of her room and down the corridor of the main building. Once she stepped outside, she headed towards a cargo crate that was sitting in the middle of the dirt road clearing in the centre of the compound.

While waiting, she pulled the shotgun off of her back and rested it on her lap, pulling a box of ammunition from her back pocket. She emptied the large bullets into her hand, before pushing them into the underside of shotgun. She didn't need the gun or, in fact, any of the weapons she was carrying. But she felt like it, so once the shotgun was loaded, she hung it back over her back.

She looked up, as several military grade trucks drove in down one of the dirt roads that led out of the compound. She watched groups of privateers' jump out the back, gathering in rather disorganized clumps. She waited for them all to get out of the trucks, before jumping up onto the cargo crate, sitting on the edge, and kicking it with alternate heels. They were very loud, yelling at each other – she knew they weren't drunk, though, they weren't allowed to be. A lot of them shot glances at her, some frustrated, some shocked, some… disturbing.

She stood up on the crate, pulling the shotgun off her back and holding it with both hands. She couldn't be bothered yelling to get their attention. So she pulled back the slide and held the gun into the air, before pulling the trigger. The explosion was followed by almost silence, before her arm fell to her side, holding the shotgun over the barrel.

"Okay…" She said, gathering what she was about to say. "Uh, each of your dog tags should have a letter next to your name. A to F." Each of the privateers glanced at their dog tags. "Each letter represents which squadron you'll be assigned to. So… organize yourself into squadrons."

There was shuffled as the privateers organized themselves into groups, before falling silent again as they looked at her expectantly. She coughed, her heartbeat picking up as she gradually became more nervous. "Alright, uh…" She paused, looking at each of the separate squadrons. "Each squadron will have several veterans… they'll assign you to jobs, I guess." She was very vague, but she didn't really know what to do. So she jumped down off of the cargo crate, swinging her shotgun back over her back, and made her way towards the bar. She hoped that Jack had some weed in the bar, though he usually didn't. The privateers didn't really respond to her leaving. She pushed open the rickety wooden door. The bar was completely empty, this time, save for Jack leaning back on a barstool behind the bar with a cigar in his teeth.

"Aio." Jack said, smiling, as she walked up to the bar and sat on a barstool. She nodded her head in greetings, tapping her fingers on the bar surface.

"What did you end up doing?" He asked, "you left rather abruptly."

"What do you mean?" She asked, looking at him curiously, before he responded, "You left to do something to get Hoyt back, right?"

"I… oh." She didn't end up replying to him. "Do you have any weed, Jack?" She asked after a pause. Jack laughed. "Yep." He said blatantly, smiling. She sighed in relief, rubbing the back of her neck.

"Really?" She asked, and he nodded as he hopped off his barstool and crouched down behind the bar. "Thank fuck." She sighed.

"Hangover, huh?" He asked nonchalantly from behind the bar, presumably opening a box. He stood again, holding a joint between his fingers, "I warned you." He said, smirking. She pouted, before gratefully taking the joint and putting it hastily between her lips. She pulled a lighter from her pocket and held it underneath the end of the roll, before taking a deep, incredibly satisfying breath. Her eyes rolled back into her skull as she closed her eyes, leaning against the back of the barstool. "Thank you." She said quietly, the smoke leaking out of her mouth and nose.

Jack laughed again, "You're welcome." He said.

She got off the barstool, nodded at him, and left the bar. It was stuffy, inside, and there was only one window. So she went behind it, the privateers now scarce, as they had evidently wandered off. She leant against the back wall, smoking the joint again, closing her eyes. It was actually rather peaceful, all of a sudden – but perhaps she was only noticing it now, that she had a roll of cannabis between her teeth.

"Aio, right?" She jumped, her eyes shooting open, as she glanced in the direction of the voice. A privateer stood there, with his arms behind his back. He had an American accent – like almost all of the other privateers – and a black stubble. His hair was hidden behind a military-looking cap. He wore typical privateer uniform, aside from the fact he wasn't holding a gun. Not one she could see, anyway.

"What do you want?" She said thickly, looking at him with her eyebrows lowered.

"I don't know," he said, smirking slightly, crossing his arms as he approached her. She took another drag of the joint, before holding it between her fingers and crossing her arms. She glared at him judgingly through the corner of her eyes.

"Then fuck off." She said sharply, looking ahead as she took another puff of the joint. She watched, though, as he approached her at pace, before standing in front of her and leaning against the wall with his elbow. She frowned at him, but didn't react.

"You know, I don't care that you're Hoyt's daughter." He said suggestively, one arm still behind his back. She glared at the arm she couldn't see, gradually becoming more suspicious, as her finally mind began to grope her situation. She uncrossed her arms, and quickly brought her fist into the side of his face. He grunted, looking back at her as she began to walk speedily away. She didn't look back at him as she stepped out onto the road, now mostly empty, save for a number of privateers that still lingered around. She gasped, though, when she felt a hand on the back of her ankle. Her leg was pulled out from underneath her, and she fell, her head abruptly hitting the ground. She gasped, disoriented, kicking with her other leg, glaring at the privateer who was crouching and had his hand gripped tightly around her ankle. "Let _fucking _go of me!" She shouted, leaning forward to grab the knife from her boot. But, he saw the knife, and tutted as he yanked it out of her boot and threw it away. He began to pull her towards him, and like a horror movie, clawed at the ground, frantically kicking with her free leg. The privateer quickly pulling his other arm from behind his back, revealing a syringe he held in his hand. Without a chance to escape, he jammed the needle into her upper thigh, pushing the liquid into her muscle. She cried, hoping someone would so much as hear her, but almost immediately her bones began to turn to liquid as her body began to crumble. Her vision doubled, her throat gurgled, as she suddenly felt her fingertips and toes tingle and eventually go completely still. Not able to move any part of her body – save for her eyelids – the privateer dragged her towards him, taking the shotgun off her back and the gun off her thigh and leaving them on the ground. Her throat whined, but her mouth remained unmoving. She felt her heart racing in her chest, beating violently against the inside of her ribcage, yet her head felt slow and heavy.

Her head rocked as he picked her up with both arms and threw her over his shoulder. She hung over him, her arms swinging, as he carried her behind the buildings and into the brothel in the very far corner of the compound.

She wanted to kick and scream, but she couldn't – her body felt too heavy, to… stone, for her to even begin to move. She even glanced at a privateer, who just watched, as he took her inside the brothel.


	18. Eighteen - Needles

**Hello :D**

**So for anyone who saw the notice that was replaced by this chapter, Good news... I got my baby back!**

**Apparently the problem 'disappeared' so they had nothing to fix. While this is a little frustrating, at least I have my lovely laptop sitting where it belongs.**

**Also, sorry for anyone who saw "Arabella Sucks" That was my bitch friends Twists being a bitch. l0l**

**Anyway, just a little warning for *almost* a rape scene.**

* * *

There was somewhat of a gasp as the privateer with Aio hung over his shoulder stepped into the whorehouse. She had started to hallucinate, the day had suddenly turned to night. The moon had a large face in it, whose eyes followed her as he carried her inside, judging her. Its mouth moved as though it was speaking, but she didn't hear it. Her eyes slowly blinked as the door closed behind her. There were only about four or five men inside the brothel, each of them getting a lap dance or a blowjob from a half-naked native prostitute. Aio knew that they weren't actually prostitutes… they weren't paid, and they weren't allowed to leave. She couldn't move, her body had become a deflated balloon hanging over his shoulder. Her adrenaline had been forcibly slowed down by the drug he had given her, so her heart had almost given up beating, and she felt her blood drain into her head and fingertips. Her mouth hung open, her eyes almost closed.

"Is that Aio Volker, Samson?" One of the privateers asked, evidently shocked. Their voices were muffled, blurred, as if her head was underwater, and she was hearing them talking from above the surface. Then briefly, the whole room filled up with water, and the people inside it began to float around, bubbles escaping from their mouths and noses. The privateer carrying her – Samson – laughed, smacking her ass with his free hand. She felt it, and suddenly the water vanished, and everyone in the room returned to the ground.

"I believe so." He said spitefully, readjusting her as she began to slip.

"You're joking, right?" The privateer asked, his voice wary, "Hoyt will _burn _you, man."

Samson laughed again. "Hoyt's not going to know, is he?" He retorted.

"You're not the only one who's wanted to fuck her, man," The privateer continued, "but have you seen what he does to guys who get close to trying?" Samson huffed at him, before turning away and walking up a flight of rotten wood stairs. There was a hallway, with doors into separate rooms – most of them being open. She could see, out of the corner of her eyes, each bed inside had a naked native woman handcuffed to the bedrails. She walked past one, though, that had a man inside. He was having sex with the girl that was handcuffed to the bed. The girl was crying, staring at the ceiling, as the man rocked her, grunting each time he thrust. She blinked, and almost gasped, when she saw the man was Vaas. _No, no_. It was just the drugs. She was just hallucinating, right? But it seemed so _real_, she could have imagined herself going up to them, and… touching him. She continued to stare, as Vaas – no, the _man_ – raped the slave girl, the bed creaking as it shook. The girl looked at her, crying, eyes red and wet. It took Aio a moment to realise that the girl… was _her. _She had Aio's tattoos across her shoulders, arms, neck and chest, she had Aio's several beaded braids in her hair, and, most obvious, she had Aio's mangled, scarred right eye. She stared, whined again, gurgling her throat and slowly blinking her eyes. _It's just hallucinations_,_ Aio, _she told herself.

He carried her into a small, empty room, with a mattress in the far corner. The room was dimly lit by a small barred window with curtains over it. The room was cold, with thick concrete walls and a solid concrete floor. She moaned again as he walked over to the mattress and dumped her on it, and she landed with a thud and bounced slightly. Her body sprawled out, and she looked up at him, her eyes blinking slowly, a small amount of liquid draining from them and running down the sides of her face. It felt like a nightmare, her mouth being open, but not being able to gather the energy or strength to scream. So she had little choice but to watch, unmoving, as he crouched over her and unzipped her cargo trousers. He snatched them off of her legs, tossing them aside, grinning as he did so. His teeth became sharp, shark-like, with jagged edges and dipped in blood. His lustful eyes turned black, menacingly glaring at her as he smiled. He picked up her limp arms and rested them above her head, before taking off her red singlet and pulling her underwear off her legs. He violently grabbed her by the hips, and flipped her ragdoll body over in a swift, vicious throw, so she was lying on her stomach. She felt his bullet-proof vest on her back as he leaned forward, lifting her hair off her back with gloved hands.

"Where'd you get the tattoos, huh?" He asked frankly, touching her tattoos with his finger, "Jungle girl?" She whimpered, trying to force herself to move – but all she could do was make her body twitch slightly. Samson leaned back, and she winced at the distressing sound of his fly unzipping, before he leaned forward again and bit the top of her spine.

All she could do was pray that someone cared about her enough to help her.

That thought made her eyes well.

* * *

Vaas hadn't seen Aio since the afternoon whence she barged into his shack, fucked him, and ran away instantly. Most of him didn't want to see her. He was pissed at her, mostly because she'd caught him when he was not only drunk, but high as well. What was he supposed to do, when she stormed in and stripped right in front of him? He hated himself for going with it, but he hated her more for making him even consider it.

Hoyt had told him about her 'promotion', and that she was now essentially in charge of the newly recruited privateers. He wasn't happy with it – not at all that he was jealous, as he had a pirate army of his own – but that she, despite the fact she can well take care of herself, now had the responsibility of ordering around men ten or more years older than her that were stronger and possibly more experienced…without the protection of Hoyt _being _her father. They knew Hoyt was her father, of course, but he had become absent from the ongoings involving them, which left her unprotected. Vaas knew she was perfectly capable of protecting herself, and that she had as good, if not better aim than he did, but some part of him was still sceptical.

He wasn't supposed to be thinking about this, though, as he was in the middle of a job. Executing rejects was his new task. He didn't really have a problem with it, as it was his job before Aio turned fifteen, and she was made to do it. About five people were tied up, kneeling in a line in front of him. Most of them being men over the age of 50. The sort of people nobody wanted as slaves and nobody felt they needed to spend money on for their rescue. It was very easy, for Vaas, killing them. One by one, without even pausing to look at them, he pulled the trigger, and in a matter of seconds, each of the crying, pleading rejects was lying dead on the ground with holes in their heads.

Usually he'd have mocked them, or made their death slightly more miserable somehow. But he was not in the mood. He didn't say anything afterwards, he just tucked his gun into his holster and sighed, putting his head in his hands briefly.

"Vaas!" Someone yelled, presumably one of his pirates. "_Vaas_!"

"What." He said dully, scratching the back of his neck, "What the fuck is it?" The pirate came sprinting towards him, holding a small phone in his hands. He looked very concerned, and his panting didn't help.  
"Vaas," He said, breathless, "it's Aio."

"What the fuck are you talking about, Carlos?" Vaas asked impatiently, frowning at him.

"Uh, in the whorehouse, a privateer called you… I heard it ringing." He panted again, "Someone's got Aio in there, Vaas."

"What the _fuck_, do you _mean!?_" Vaas growled, now sick at the pirate's lack of ability to blatantly explain what trouble Aio had gotten herself into. He did wonder, though, what she was doing in a whorehouse.

"Uh, a privateer called Samson, I think… the guy who called said he had Aio hanging over his shoulder when he walked in," He said, pausing, "she was drugged, Vaas."

"_What_?" He asked, exasperated, though he knew what the pirate was implying, "Fuck." He said through his teeth, before pushing past the pirate and jumping into the closest car. "_Fuck_." He pushed the pedal down as hard as he could and sped down the dirt road.

* * *

The whorehouse was about a five minute drive from where Vaas had left – and of course, he was concerned that by the time he arrived he'd be too late. If, like the pirate had said, Aio had been drugged and taken into the brothel the privateer who'd done so would have already raped her by now. If that was his intention, at least, however he did take her into a whorehouse. Vaas arrived outside, and didn't bother finding a reasonable place to park the car. He left it in the middle of the road, before jumping out of the car and running to the whorehouse. He slammed the door open, bursting into the room. The air immediately became heavier, and the smell of sweat and marijuana lingered. He got a few glances from the privateers inside, along with frightened jumps from the prostitutes.

He went up to one of the privateers, "Where is she?" He asked angrily, only to receive a confused glare. "Who?" The privateer responded ambiguously, stroking the thigh of a native woman who was rubbing herself against him.

"Aio!" He yelled, "Where the _fuck_ is she?" The privateer raised his hands.

"I dunno, man, upstairs somewhere." He replied. Vaas fumed, before swinging his fist and punching the privateer in the side of the head. The prostitute beside him screamed, shaky hands covering her mouth. "Shut the fuck up." Vaas hissed at her, and she went silent.

He turned for the stairs, running up them. He speedily walked down the hallway, glancing into each of the rooms, checking for Aio in each of them. It had been about eight years since the last time he'd been to a whorehouse, and that was for reasons other than the current. "Aio?" He shouted down the hall, though then realised it was pointless, as if she was drugged she wouldn't be able to talk. The door of the last room in the hallway was closed, unlike the others. So he ran up to it, only to find the sound of a squeaking mattress and grunts coming from inside. He pushed down on the door handle, only to find it'd been locked. So he swiftly pulled the gun off his holster and shot several times at the door handle, before barging the door open. His lips quaked and his inside curdled at what he saw – Aio was lying, completely naked, face down on a mattress, with her arms by her sides. She was unresponsive, unmoving. On top of her was a privateer, with sweat dripping from his forehead and his pants at his ankles, but he obviously been interrupted by the shooting at the door.

"You _son of a bitch_!" He yelled before aiming his gun at the privateer. The privateer squirmed away from Aio, raising his hands, but Vaas pulled the trigger anyway. Several bullets exploded out of the gun, hitting Samson in the hip and upper legs. He screamed, then spluttered, watching as Vaas went over to Aio. She had sweat pooled in the line of her back, that didn't belong to her, and several bite marks – that hadn't broken the skin – along the back of her neck and shoulder blades. He saw her glance at him through the corners of her wet eyes, before a small whimper came from her lips. He pulled a syringe from a pocket in his cargo trousers, which was just a simple medicine made of arrowroot. He pulled off the cap and grabbed Aio's jaw, pushing her head to the side, before jamming the end of the needle into the side of her neck. It took only a few seconds for the antidote to get to her brain, and instantly following, Aio took a huge, desperate gasp before breaking into a fit of roaring coughs, crying out in between each lurch of her lungs. Her arms shook violently as she tried to push herself up, but she collapsed again, before falling into another fit of vicious coughing.

Vaas fumed, before standing up again, and walking over to the privateer who was still winging about the new bullet holes in his hip and legs. Vaas lifted his gun to the privateer's forehead, who just glared at him, begging. "You mother _fucker,_" Vaas growled, "Who the fuck do you think you are, huh? You think _you're _special enough to fuck Hoyt's daughter, huh?" The privateer almost stopped begging for a moment, and cracked a smile.

"Well, _you_ are." He said malevolently. Vaas snapped, pulling back the slide on the gun, pushing his finger down on the trigger.

"Don't!" The yell made Vaas jump, and lift his finger slightly off the trigger. Aio had managed to shakily stand, still trying to figure out how to move her body correctly.

"What?" Vaas asked, equally as angry as he was bewildered.

"Don't shoot him." She said shakily, but her face wasn't remorseful or forgiving, almost the complete opposite. She paused, putting her trembling hand on Vaas's still raised gun, before saying in a sickly, vengeful tone, "He doesn't deserve that luxury... I've got something else in mind."


	19. Nineteen - Roast

The privateer who'd drugged Aio lay unconscious beside the wall, as she'd insisted on hitting him in the side of the head with the butt of Vaas's gun... several times. She collapsed immediately afterward, as her legs still hadn't regained their composure as the drug hadn't completely worn off. Her extremities still tingled, so she pushed herself up against the wall and brought her knees up to her chest. She didn't cry, though, she just stared at the floor, her eyes wide, her fingers shaking.

Vaas hadn't left. He stayed in the room, his gun in his hand, glancing back and forth between the mattress, the unconscious privateer and Aio, who sat traumatized against the wall. She was still naked, but was obviously too disturbed to care, and didn't have the strength to get her clothes from the other side of the small room. So Vaas went over to her clothes, which lay sprawled in a pile beside the mattress, and picked them up. He carried them to her, and dumped them on the floor next to her. She looked at them through the corner of her eyes, and didn't really move. But she stuck out a shaky arm and picked up her blood red singlet, pulling it slowly over her head, before returning to the position she was in before.

Vaas sighed. He'd seen the same thing happen to several other girls, watched, even. He didn't help them, or even really care, as they had become… cargo. He saw the slave girls as produce, things to sell for someone else's pleasure. But seeing Aio get drugged and raped wasn't like that. Obviously so, as he'd known her almost her whole life. In a sense, he had to look after her too, and make sure things like this didn't happen. But he'd failed in that part, didn't he? There she sat, in shock, her eyes unmoving, her body still shaking. He felt a strange sense of guilt, like he hadn't got there in time. But also a small amount of some strange, twisted form of jealousy. Not of her, though… for some reason, he felt like that privateer had violated his property. She was, in a way, like a sister to him.

But she wasn't, was she? If he saw as a sister in any way or form he wouldn't have let himself fuck her when she marched into his shack and took off her clothes. He rubbed the back of his neck, sighing again, before sitting down next to Aio, bending his legs, and resting his arms against his knees. She didn't look at him as he sat down, and remained staring dully at the floor.

"You alright, hermana?" He asked quietly, looking at her. She drew a long, shaky breath, before sighing and closing her eyes.

"The drug…" She uttered, biting her lip, "I couldn't move, or talk, or…" Vaas didn't like her acting like this. He was so used to her being… strong. Numb, emotionless, resilient, austere. But just now she had broken, almost, even when she had her bouts of tears or frustration or depression, she still didn't act this way. _Scared_ was almost the only word he could use to describe how she was acting. Vaas put his arm around her shoulders, gripping her far shoulder with his hand. There was nothing he could say, really, nothing understanding or comforting. He wasn't that sort of person, and she wouldn't take anything he said as mildly consoling either. She hated him, right? She most certainly didn't enjoy herself when she had sex with him. And he hated himself knowing that he recognized her discomfort, her anxiousness, her neediness, yet he was too drunk and too high to care enough to stop himself.  
"It made me see things…" She said quietly, "…it was a _fucking_ nightmare, Vaas." Then she sobbed, finally breaking into tears, as her head fell to the side of his chest and she covered her face with her hands. He noticed she curled her toes, which he had noted was a strange habit of hers when she was distressed. There was a long moment of silence, save for occasional sobs from Aio.

"What are you going to do with him?" Vaas asked, nodding at the privateer's bloodied, unconscious body. Aio stopped crying, and took a trembling breath.

"Let's burn him." She said vengefully, "In the furnace." She paused, glowering at the lifeless privateer, before adding, "I want to see his skin bubble."

Vaas looked at her, smirking slightly. "Good idea, chica." He said.

* * *

Aio had regained her composure once the drug had completely worn off. She had stopped crying, and she there was no longer a numb tingling in her fingers and toes. She walked alongside Vaas, who had Samson's unconscious body hauled over his shoulder. Samson's blood was leaking through the gauze that covered the bullet holes in his hips and upper legs, and dripping over Vaas's shoulder and chest, and he had to keep adjusting Samson as he repeatedly began to slip down his shoulder. Samson was quite large, and heavily built – from Aio's perspective, of course, as she was obviously smaller than him. But Vaas didn't really seem to have any trouble, save for the fact the body would constantly slide on the blood that now stained the skin of his shoulder, chest and bicep.

They stepped outside of the whorehouse, and Aio crossed her arms. It was definitely night by now, and the moon was sitting behind one of the buildings ahead of them both. She didn't know how long she'd been inside the brothel, but evidently it had been longer than several hours. She and Vaas hadn't said a word to each other since. She didn't like that he had been the one to 'save' her, though she was somewhat grateful, she would have preferred that it had been someone else. She didn't want him to see her naked again, let alone paralyzed underneath a man at least ten years older than her, that was violently raping her on a mattress inside a whorehouse where the prostitutes pretend to be willing to give every guy who enters a lacklustre blowjob. She felt awkward walking next to him now, distressed, uncomfortable. The hallucinations she'd had beforehand didn't help either, even though she had decided not to tell him about them.

Hoyt didn't leave the furnace inside the cave in the cenote. She was glad, as she didn't want to have to drive all the way over. So instead, she requested that Vaas left Samson's body on the ground, while she went over to where the furnace sat; against the wall of the main building inside the compound. She grabbed the bars in the small hole at the front of the furnace, and dragged the heavy metal object into the middle of the intersection of the dirt roads. Using keys Hoyt had given her, she unlocked the padlock that kept the metal lid shut, before lifting the lid, and looking around inside. The furnace was full of ashes, the sides burnt black. She wanted to put on a display, somewhat, as Hoyt did to Sgt. Joshua Allen – and that was just for selling a couple hundred grams of coke.

"Tie him up, huh?" She yelled at Vaas from the other side of the dirt roads, "In case he wakes up or something." Vaas raised a hand in acknowledgement, before turning around and pulling the rope he had around his torso over his head. She went to the side of the road and grabbed a large plastic can of fuel that had been filled to the brim, the weight of it brought down her left side, revealing her strained bicep as she dragged it over to where the furnace was sitting.

"You don't get to choose, you _fuck_!" She heard Vaas yell, his voice straining as he did. She looked over, to find Vaas punching Samson in the head. "You heard the fucking rules, no? What was rule number four, hermano? Huh?" Aio walked over, seeing that Vaas had a hand around Samson's throat. Samson spluttered as Vaas pulled his hand tighter, yelling; "You _fucking _know what it is, don't you! So _fucking_ tell me!"

Samson coughed, clawing hopelessly at Vaas's grip, before uttering, "Aio is…" He paused, spluttering again, trying to take a breath, "…off limits." Vaas let go of his throat, before hitting him in the head again. "And you should fucking remember it, huh?" He shouted, "Because now it's going to be the death of you." Aio watched, her insides grinning to some extent, but she refused to let it show on her face. It made her feel slightly better that he was standing up for her. Even though she'd be doing it herself, otherwise.

"Vaas, cool it." She said blatantly, "we want him awake for this, right?"

Vaas fumed, sighed, and then nodded. He gave the rope tied around Samson's feet a final tug, then went on to repeat the treatment on the privateer's hands. He grabbed the base of his dirty red singlet, before tearing a shred off from the bottom. Using it as a gag, he shoved his fingers inside the privateer's mouth and plied it open, before forcing the fabric between his teeth and tying it tightly around the back of his head.

"Wait." She said, before crouching in front of Samson as Vaas shuffled out of the way. She reached behind his head and gently untied the knot in the gag, before softly pulling it out of his mouth and putting it on the floor. "I'd give you a gag, but…" She said delicately, pausing, "…I want to hear you scream." Samson glared at her, half in distaste and half in pleading. Then, following in Vaas's footsteps, she brought her fist into his stomach, and he crippled over, as a stream of saliva poured from his mouth.

"That was a waste of a singlet, no?" Vaas said frustratedly, picking up the shred of red fabric he'd torn off the bottom. He stood, though, tossing the fabric aside and rolling his shoulders. "Want me to chuck him in the furnace, ma'am?" He asked facetiously, looking at her as she stood.

She simply nodded, rubbing the back of her neck, briefly closing her eyes. Memories of the situation that had just past lit up the inside of her eyelids, making her shudder, and then swallow. "Yeah," She said after a pause, "Chuck him in."

Vaas was being surprisingly obedient, and she didn't know whether it was out of pity or out of guilt. It wasn't like him to listen to what she was saying, and part of her wanted to be doing this all herself. But she knew she wouldn't be able to lift Samson, so Vaas was still there.

He picked Samson up and threw him roughly over his shoulder, Samson yelping as the bullet wounds in his hips crashed against Vaas's bone. He hauled the privateer over to the furnace in the middle of the intersection. Samson kicked and yelled, shouting at Vaas for forgiveness or mercy.  
"Please!" He yelled, banging his tied hands against Vaas's lower back, "I'm sorry! Just don't_ burn _me!" Vaas plainly ignored him, before adding simply, "I'm not the one you should be apologizing to, hermano." Samson cried, falling limp, sobbing hopelessly. Aio couldn't help but smile as Vaas threw Samson into the top the furnace, who scratched and scrambled himself into a fetal position at the bottom. She went over to it, carrying the can of fuel, looking down over him. He stared up at her, his eyes wide and scared. She enjoyed the feeling, reversing their roles – now his fate rested in her hands. And she felt like tossing it around, balancing it on the brink, watching as he grew more and more restless with each second she silently watched him.

"I'm not going to lie, Samson," she said, as she hopped up onto the side of the furnace and sat on the edge, "You're a good-looking guy. You could have probably gone for any slave, prostitute or free woman on this island." She paused, looking over the edge, catching is eye, "Yet you decide to drug and rape the one girl who you can't touch. The _one_ and _only _girl on both the north _and_ south island that is completely and utterly out of your reach. Why is that, hm?" She waited silently for him to respond, and it did take him a while. But he laughed, first, before licking his lips and staring at the wall of the furnace. "It was a bet." He said bluntly, smirking slightly. "A bunch of us were talking about Hoyt's fourth rule. One guy said that he wouldn't dare touch you at the thought of being burned. But the others…" he paused, laughing, "We certainly tossed around the idea of sharing you."

Aio's lips went thin, and her heart rate started to pick up, as she began to get increasingly disturbed yet pissed off at him. "But the others pussied out. So I put forward a bet, that I could fuck you, and get you to keep your lips sealed – and get off scot-free. I also did it for my own pleasure, of course."

"Well that didn't work out well for you, did it?" She hissed at him, slipping off the edge of the furnace before picking up the large can of fuel and undoing the lid. She tipped it over the edge of the furnace – the fuel was a runny, brown fluid, that glugged as it poured out of the plastic can and drenched Samson's entire body. He spluttered, spitting out the fuel that had gotten into his mouth, as the oil continued to fill up the furnace until there was at least an inch of brown fuel pooled in the bottom.

"You know," she said thickly, putting her hands on the edge of the furnace and resting on her arms, "Hoyt did say that touching _me_… would result in being flayed before being roasted." She paused, relishing at the glassy finish that came over Samson's eyes, as his lip quivered, and a small, childlike whimper crawled out his throat. "P-please…" He whispered, his voice cracking.

"You're fucking lucky that I like my chicken with skin on." She said finally, before stepping away from the furnace and slamming down the metal lid. The lid had a small hole in it, as to throw in a match. The privateer yelled, banging himself against the lid, yet there wasn't enough space for him to get in the right position to be able to push it open and get out. She threw the padlock over the loop and locked it, before tucking the keys back into her pocket.

"Let me out!" Samson shouted, evidently resorting to anger rather than pleading, "Let me _out_ you psychopathic bitch!" Aio sniggered, pulling a cigar and a lighter out of the pockets on the back of her trousers.

"Wrong choice of words." She said plainly, before putting the cigar between her lips, and holding the lighter underneath the end. She puffed it, sucking the smoke between her teeth and holding it in her mouth, before letting it slide silkily out of her nose. She flicked the lighter again, leaving it lit, before uttering; "Bye, Samson." She chucked the lighter through the hole in the top, backing away and bringing her hands over her head.

The furnace exploded, fire erupting out of the holes in the sides and top. The explosion was soon followed by piercing screams, as Samson gripped the bars and thrashed his head around on the inside.

He was soon silenced, and suddenly the air became heavy and quiet. Aio watched the flames, transfixed, crossing her arms.

She stood quietly, relishing in the smell of Samson's burning flesh.

**Thanks for reading ^^**


	20. Twenty - Regrets

**Hey guys, sorry the chapter is quite short... it's more of a filler one. Just to show a bit of Hoyt's perspective. **

**:D**

* * *

Hoyt was leaning against the side wall of the main building inside the compound. He had a cigarette between his thumb and forefinger, every now and then slipping it between his teeth and sucking in the smoke, blowing it back out through his nose. He had come outside once he heard the explosion through the windows in his office. He had taken a gun with him, assuming someone had attacked the compound, but put it away when he saw the furnace burning in the centre of the dirt road intersection.

He saw Aio standing behind it, the orange glow of the flames lighting up her rigid face. She looked furious – she'd always been able to look fuming without showing any emotion. He didn't know who she had cooked in there. He didn't know why, either. He intended to confront her about it at some point, but he didn't want to yet. She hadn't seen him standing there, and he was relatively thankful about it.

Watching her, though, gave him a strange sense of guilt. Some part of him knew that she would have burned someone regardless of whether or not they actually did something to hurt her or someone she cared about – which was an incredibly small list anyway. And he also knew, that that was his fault. Twenty years he spent watching the innocent little child steadily warp and distort into ruthless, bitter, emotionally unstable psychopath. And it made him feel _guilty_ to think that if, twenty years ago, he had made her mother leave with her, she'd at least not have become the way she is now. She wouldn't have grown up in _his_ image. He sighed, putting the cigarette back between his teeth.

"He's dead, hermana," He heard Vaas yell, noticing that he had been there the whole time.

"I know." Aio replied dully, before swallowing.

"What, you gunna fuckin' eat him, too?" Vaas asked mockingly, walking up beside her. She glared at him, and he laughed, taking a deep gulp of a bottle of what Hoyt assumed was alcohol – Vaas wouldn't really have been drinking anything else. "I'm joking, chica." He added plainly, putting his arm quickly around Aio's shoulder.

She rolled it off and stepped aside. "Fuck off, Vaas." She hissed, not looking at him. Hoyt pouted, watching as Vaas tried again. Vaas chortled, reaching back for Aio, grabbing her by the waist and tugging her towards him.

"C'mon, Aio," he said soddenly, "I just rescued you, no?" He had certainly gotten drunk in a short amount of time. Hoyt fought back the urge to confront them both.

Aio turned, putting her hands on Vaas's stomach and violently shoving him away. "I said fuck _off_, Vaas." Vaas raised his hands, frowning as he backed away.

"Whatever, puta." He said irately, before walking away, taking another sip from the bottle in his left hand. Hoyt watched as Aio fell to her knees and collapsed into tears. He sighed, attempting to ignore the sound of her crying, as he put his fingers over the bridge of his nose.  
Then he turned, and went back inside the building.

* * *

Hoyt collapsed back into his armchair behind his desk, taking another drag of his now shortened cigarette as he leaned forward, resting on his elbows, putting his head in his hands. Every day became increasingly stressful for him, juggling finding the rat, making sure the privateers behaved as privateers and looking over Aio. Evidently he hadn't been doing a good job at the last one.

He was waiting for Becker, one of his own rats – someone he had acquired to report on the actions and behaviour of each privateer. A snitch, almost.

Then, at that moment, the door opened, and Sam Becker stood tall with his arms firmly behind his back. He had almost no hair, save for quite a long blonde beard on his chin. He had several tattoos up his arms and one significant tattoo of a spider underneath his left eye. "You wanted me, Sir?" He said, his voice tinged with a mild German accent.

Hoyt cleared his throat and snuffed out the cigarette. "Becker." He said, acknowledging him, "Anything to report?"

Sam took a while to answer, before nodding, "Yah, Jacob Samson is no longer a suspect." He said sarcastically, crossing his arms.

"Why is that?" Hoyt asked probingly, meshing his hands.

"He's dead, sir." Sam said plainly, before adding, "Aio just burned him."

Hoyt raised an eyebrow, leaning back in his armchair. "So that's who she was burning, huh?" He said, sighing. "Do you know why?"

Sam laughed, looking at the ceiling. "You sure you wanna know?" He asked, watching Hoyt's face become gradually more concerned.

"Of course I want to fucking know," Hoyt snapped, "My daughter just burned one of my soldiers in a fucking furnace, Becker, of course I want to know."

"He fucked her." Sam said quickly, not taking a moment to respond.

"_What_?" Hoyt urged, shocked, suddenly leaning forward.

"He drugged her and fucked her, Hoyt." Sam repeated dully, no remorse or care on his face.

Hoyt's jaw dropped at Becker's frankness, running his hands through his hair as he stood. "I fucking told them!" He yelled, "I told them I'd flay them and _burn_ them if they so much as _touched _her!"

"It was a bet, sir." Sam continued, walking towards the desk slightly, "I was there."

"And you fucking _let_ him?" Hoyt shouted.

"I didn't really know what to do, sir." Sam replied, "I obviously suggested otherwise but Samson would've called me out if I acted like a… kiss ass."

"_Suggested!?" _Hoyt bellowed, slamming his fists onto the desk, "My daughter has just been drugged and _raped, _and you have the audacity to tell me that you fucking _suggested otherwise!?"_

Sam's lips went thin. "I thought you didn't care about her, sir." He said frankly. Hoyt sighed, grunting as he fell back into his arm chair with his hands over his eyes. He didn't respond, though.

"I don't think she cares about you, either." He added. Hoyt scowled, glaring at him.  
"What did you say?" He asked viciously, and Sam didn't reply, "What, you've been inside her head? You know what goes on in that emotionally unstable mind of hers? Huh?"

"I dunno, sir." Sam said blatantly, "It's the impression she gives." Then he paused, before quietly adding, "You guys fight all the fuckin' time, nah?"

"Get the fuck out of here." Hoyt hissed, flicking his hand at him. "Don't let me see you until you have something I can fuckin' use."

Sam didn't say anything, nodded his head, before turning abruptly around and leaving the room. Hoyt sighed when he closed the door, running his hands through his hair again. Then, making sure Becker had left, he pulled open his bottom desk drawer, picking up a small, ratty photograph.

It was a photograph of Aio, when she was about four, standing next to Rodriguez, with her arms around his leg. Her hair was out – a frizzy, chaotic mess of black, with a small white tiare flower in her ear. Her body was tattoo free, her right eye wasn't mangled and scarred… and her little face bore a huge, gleaming smile that he hadn't seen the like of in at least sixteen years. He put his hand over his mouth – she was so young, so innocent, free of any horrific memories or experiences that hung off her shoulders nowadays. He quickly shoved the photograph back into the drawer, slamming it shut, before leaning against the surface of the desk on his elbows. He put his face in his hands, a newfound sense of overwhelming guilt filling his head.

"Fucking hell, Aio." He said ashamedly to himself, "Why the fuck did I take you in?"


	21. Twenty-One - Recess

**Sorry it's late again :0**

**Once again my computer is being a complete and utter fucking pain in the ass, so I've had to use my old laptop, which is a tired old piece of shit that can't handle more than three programs open at once. I've also had several exams and stuff recently and upcoming so.. yeah. **

**But here it is, very mild smut alert... that gets worse in the next chapter. **

**Enjoy :D**

Aio had woken up at the edge of the road, beside the furnace. Evidently someone had moved her so she was out of the way of several trucks that drove past early in the morning. She was rather thankful for that, but she was incredibly uncomfortable. Her back was pressed against a large gravel rock on the ground and her knees were scraped up.

She sat up, dust from the dirt road falling out of her hair. Her muscles ached, most likely from the paralysing drug Samson had given her. She felt rather sick. She was on the verge of vomiting, but her stomach was empty. She wasn't tired, though – she would have gone to bed again if she was. She stood up, rubbing the side of her head, which contained a rather large bruise. She groaned, crossing her arms, as she stumbled towards the main building.

She spent a while trying to decide whether or not she'd tell Hoyt about what happened. She didn't think one of the privateers would tell him… they're all _friends_, after all. Narking on a friend is most likely frowned upon. And it's not like any of the privateers liked her enough to stand up for her anyway. She didn't really want Hoyt to know. There was never the awkward concept of hiding sex from each other, as she knew about it from an unusually young age. It was never strange or disgusting to her, as from the age of about three she'd seen pirates having sex with or raping islander woman or slave girls from overseas. So she'd never really had awkward conversations with Hoyt about the topic.

But it was a different story now that she was the subject. She didn't really want him to know what happened outside of his view. She didn't really want him to know that she'd burned Samson, either, as she didn't know whose side he'd take. She had no guarantee that Hoyt would take her side.

She needed a break. She was utterly sick of nearly every person she'd ever been in the vicinity of in her entire life. So after packing several weapons from her chest, a lighter, and a number of cigars and joints she'd stolen from Hoyt's office – without telling anyone, she went to the northern dock and took a boat to the north island.

_Three days later_

Aio was lying on the rickety mattress inside the shack, with her hands over her stomach and her feet crossed. She had her boots and socks sitting on the ground in the corner of the room, and she had tied the leather cord she usually used to tie up her hair knotted around her wrist. She sighed deeply, closing her eyes.

She'd been essentially hiding in the north island for the last two days, and she hadn't seen Vaas or Hoyt since. She needed a break. After Samson, she just needed time alone – no talking, no complaining, no crying, no shouting, no killing. Just for a while. She felt selfish, almost, spending time on her own and not being there for Hoyt to tell her what to do. But at the same time, it had probably been the best two days of the last five or so years.

She'd only really interacted with two pirates in that time, one asked her why she was there and another who hit on her but also offered her a meal. She ended up taking the offer, as she hadn't eaten in the couple of days prior. She had spent a while hunting, a while sitting on the edge of a cliff, a while bathing in a nearby stream and a while wandering aimlessly along the dirt roads that coursed the north island.

Just on the brink of falling asleep, the door of the shack slams open, the door almost knocking off its hinges. Aio shot awake, instantly sitting up to see who was at the door. Vaas stood in the doorframe, crossing his arms.

"Where the _fuck_ have you been?" He said exasperatedly, before he began to laugh slightly, "I thought you'd been fuckin' kidnapped again, chica."

She scowled, rubbing her face before standing up. "I was taking a fucking break." She hissed.

"From what, huh?" He asked, smirking.

"From _you_," She barked, "From Hoyt, from the privateers, from the compound. From fucking everything, Vaas."

Vaas rubbed the back of his neck, looking at the ground, before looking back at her. "Thought you'd have learned to suck it up by now, hermana." He replied.

Aio sighed, running her hands through her hair, "How did you even find me?" She asked bitterly, glaring at him.  
"Carlos told me you were here." He said, "Didn't help me find you, though." Aio groaned, before sitting back down on the mattress.

"Can you just leave, Vaas?" She asked coldly, scowling at him.

"I can't fucking leave, Aio." He retorted, "Hoyt thought you were dead. I'm not leaving here without you."

Aio moaned frustratedly, "Let him think I'm fucking dead! It's not like he gives a _shit _anyway! Just leave me the _fuck_ alone!" She yelled, before instantly putting her hand on the side of her head as a headache began to build.

"The fuck is your problem, Aio?" He hissed, finally losing his patience, "You're so fucking _annoying_ sometimes. You throw these tantrums like you're a fucking four year old."

"_Tantrums?"_ She shouted, "My life is fucking _awful_, Vaas! My father likes to think I don't exist, the privateers treat me like a piece of meat, I'm not allowed to _interact_ with people who aren't savage killers, and worst of all, every _day_ you take it upon yourself to _ruin_ me."

Vaas sighed, crossing his arms again. "I hate to say it, hermana," He said dully, "but you were born here. Therefore your life was always going to be awful. It's fuckin' inevitable. But you need to get the fuck over yourself, okay?"

Aio didn't bother responding, because if she did she would've blown her top. Who gave him the right to tell her to get over herself? He had no _fucking _idea of the things she'd been through. So, fuming, barely able to contain her emotions, she rammed past him and stormed out of the shack. She paced into the jungle, her walking slowly becoming a jog, before she knew it she was sprinting at full speed. She raced towards the stream nearby. She didn't know or understand what she was running from. She didn't know how she felt about Vaas anymore. She told herself repeatedly that she hated him, but part of her didn't even believe that anymore.

She didn't know how she felt about Hoyt, either. She still loved him, of course, but she knew to her core that he didn't love her back. He didn't give the slightest shit about her, and in the twenty years of her existence, he never gave her a reason to think otherwise.

Evidently none of the privateers gave a shit about her wellbeing either. Samson was enough to make her hate them all… she could still feel him, she could still _smell_ him, a permanent stench that reminded her every second how pathetically weak she was. How could she have even let her near him?

She wondered if her mother would have cared about her if she'd kept her. She wondered whether or not her mother would love her, treated her like a daughter, the way she always wanted to be treated. But then, her mother dumped her at the doorstep of the worst possible father on the planet, so that wouldn't be the case.

But her head, her heart, her entire _body_ just cried for someone on the planet to give a shit about her. For someone that would tell her that everything would be ok. For someone that would hold her hand back.

Her entire body lurched, her brain so packed full of opposing emotions that it was on the utter brink of exploding. Like a balloon that was one breath away from being inflated too far. She just collapsed, falling to her knees, before erupting into tears, taking repeated heaving breaths, before sobbing immediately after. She didn't even bother try to contain herself this time. She was almost alone in the middle of the jungle. She put her shaky hands over her face as she cried, hot tears making her palms wet.

"Aio!" She heard Vaas yell from behind, but she didn't respond. Her body was finally expelling all the pent up emotions that she had gathered over the past year. So she just cried again. "Aio!" Vaas yelled again, before she heard his footsteps in the foliage come closer to her. He ran around in front of her, before crouching, and grabbing her upper arms firmly. He locked eyes with her, his eyebrows low. "Just go away!" She cried, sobbing, completely unable to contain herself.

"Hey, hey, hey, hey, Aio, snap the fuck out of it, okay?" He said quickly, before waving a hand over her face. She just continued to cry, her head falling as she looked at the ground.

"Hoyt does give a shit about you, no?" She decided right then that Vaas was shitty at comforting people – but then again, he wasn't the comforting type. "If he didn't care about you, he wouldn't have sent me to rescue you from a pack of dogs, hm? If he didn't give a shit about you he wouldn't have a fourth rule, he wouldn't protect you from the fuckin' privateers, he wouldn't stop you from doing heroin or some shit. He wouldn't have taken you in in the first fuckin' place, hermana, if he didn't give a shit about you."

She sobbed, her intense crying slowly dulling down. She didn't reply, instead just sniffed, wiping her un-scarred eye with her palm as she stood up. She didn't really know what to think about anything, really. She needed a joint. She needed a drink. She didn't know what she needed. _Fuck_. She took a few steps away from him, her back facing him. She walked up beside a palm tree near the stream and leaned against it, crossing her arms and staring at the ground, taking deep breaths in attempt to calm herself down.

"I came here to be alone, Vaas." She said shakily, "Just go away."

He didn't respond after she said that. But he hadn't left, because she didn't hear him walk away. She couldn't be bothered telling him to go away again. Because she knew he wasn't going to leave unless she left with him.

She heard him walk up to her from behind, he stood close enough that she could hear him breathing. _No_. "I'm not leaving." He said blatantly. She remained unmoving as he took a few steps closer to her, before moving forward and kissing her shoulder. She shivered, rolling him off. She tried to take a step forward, but he instantly put his arm around her stomach and tugged her back. "You're fucking kidding." She hissed, "Let _go_ of me."

"No." He replied plainly, before he kissed her shoulder again.

She growled, rolling her shoulder again, struggling against the arm he had around her stomach. "Stop, Vaas." She said thickly, pushing against his grip. He sniggered, grinning, as he bit the tendon in the side of her neck. She shuddered, putting her hands around his wrist in attempt to pull his arm off. "_Stop_ it." She snarled through her teeth.

"No." He said again, his arm slipping underneath her singlet and slowly lifted it off her stomach. _Not again_, she thought. She didn't know if she could handle it a second time. She didn't enjoy herself at all the first time, and at that point she was piss drunk. And then Samson drugged her the day after. This was quite possibly the last thing she wanted. She was already immensely angry at Vaas for so much as finding her. And now he was evidently trying to have sex with her.

"Get off, Vaas." She yapped, still struggling against his grip.

"Why, huh?" He asked gruffly, threatening to take her singlet off completely.

"Because I don't _want _to _fuck _you." She said stiffly, trying to peel off his fingers.

Vaas just laughed though, bringing his other arm tightly around her stomach. "Yeah, you do." He replied hungrily. Did she? No, no she didn't. She most definitely did not.


	22. Twenty-Two - Second Helping

**Hola amigos**

**Sorry it's been a while my computer still suck ass**

**Smut alert.**

Vaas still had his arms wrapped tightly around Aio's stomach, kissing her shoulder from behind. She didn't want to be there. But, maybe she did. Maybe it'd be better than the last time. She didn't know, really. She didn't know anything anymore. Her thoughts were just mangled now. They were just hideously distorted clutters of illegible shit. So she didn't respond. Instead she just became passive, her arms falling to her sides as he kissed the skin behind her ear. Then he pulled away briefly, before lifting her singlet up her back and pulling it over her head, sliding it down her arms. She simply let him, not bothering to struggle against him. He laughed slightly, "Told you so, no?" He said roguishly, before kissing the bone at the top of her spine – that still had bite marks from where Samson had bit her. She pulled away from him, facing him, and he looked at her expectantly. She tightly grabbed his singlet, dragging him with her as she walked backwards towards the stream.

She stepped into the stream briefly, before turning around and standing in front of him. He smirked, somewhat staggered, as she pushed him through the water towards a large, somewhat flat boulder in the centre of the stream. She didn't really know what she was doing. But so much adrenaline was now pumping through her blood she didn't really care, either. She shoved him, and he collapsed back onto the diagonally flat surface of the rock.

She sat over him, putting her knees over him, sitting on his hips. "If Hoyt finds out," She said, quoting him, grinning slightly, "You're taking the fuckin' blame." Vaas chortled, looking away then looking back at her. He put his hands on her hips, slithering them down her thighs.

"You're so fuckin' _sexy_." He said greedily, sliding his hands back up her thighs. She was slightly taken aback, the comment surprising her as well as making her relatively uncomfortable. She never even considered the fact that Vaas thought she was sexy. Since when, too? It's not like he'd always found her sexy… he'd known her since she was at least ten.

She didn't reply to him. Instead she abruptly leaned forward, forcing her lips against his, pushing her tongue into his mouth, gripping the sides of his neck with both hands. Her necklaces clinked, dangling off her bare neck and hitting his chest. She moved, kissing along his collarbone, and she felt him chuckle slightly as she did so.

Without warning, he wrapped his hands around her knees and brusquely flipped her onto her back. She groaned as her bare back hit the surface of the rock, but soon silenced herself as Vaas crawled over top of her. He leaned back, briefly pausing, watching her chest rise and fall as she breathed heavily, observing him. She reached her hands over his neck, skimming them down his back. She gripped on to the bottom of his singlet, slid it over his head and dumped it in the stream.

He leaned forward, pushing his lips against hers, grabbing her wrists and pulling her arms above her head, holding them in place with one hand. She smiled slightly, as he dragged his lips down her chin and neck, kissing her chest, still holding her hands above her head. She whimpered slightly, trying to adjust herself underneath him. The rock wasn't the most comfortable surface to… fuck…on.

Vaas suddenly stopped, and leaned back again. He smirked at her, letting go of her hands. His hands went to her shorts, undoing the button and then yanking down the zip. He grabbed the rim of her desert shorts and pulled them down her thighs, slipping them past her feet and dropping them into the stream.

She brought her knees out from under him, before wrapping her legs around his hips. Aio briefly realised that she was making the same terrible mistake she'd made little under a week ago. She was still having sex with Vaas, right? What would Hoyt say when he found out about what'd happened to her? That she'd had sex with his right hand man twice and was raped by one of his soldiers. But she wasn't about to shove Vaas off and go running back to her little hideaway shack. For some obscene reason she was actually enjoying herself. Why the fuck was she enjoying herself? She didn't even know. Vaas was the reason Rodriguez was dead, he was the reason she was blind in one eye, he was the reason she was emotionally unstable, he was the reason she didn't feel bruises anymore. He was the man that Hoyt saw as more of a son than he saw her as a daughter.

But she was _enjoying_ herself. Lying underneath him while he fucked her against the surface of a rock in the middle of a stream. It wasn't painful this time. While the rock was like sandpaper against her bare back, she grew to ignore it, as she began to move with him, wrapping her arms tightly around his neck. He grunted into her ear, one of his hands meshing with the hair on the back of her head, and the other holding the side of her ribcage. She interlaced her toes over his back as she groaned, as her arms fell from his neck and landed on the ground beside her head. Her back arched, as he reached forward and grabbed her wrists, holding them down against the rock. She whined when the back of her wrists grinded against the rough plane of the stone, but quickly ignored them as he thrust again, groaning as he did so. He bit the soft spot in her shoulder, sending violent shudders all the way through her body. She whimpered, stretching her hands underneath his grip, twisting her fingers as she moaned again. She panted, moving her knees up his torso as he rocked her again, grunting.

She tried to get her hands out from under his, but he just curled his fingers tighter around them. He kissed the skin between her breasts, keeping her in place as she desperately tried to move.

Ugh, she was doing it again. Doubting herself. No, she was having sex with Vaas again. Not only was she going against her fathers will, but she was going against her own. Was she? She didn't know. She didn't _fucking_ know. She willingly drank two straight glasses of vodka. She willingly walked into his shacked and stripped herself several days ago. She willingly forced herself onto him while he was high. She willingly had sex with him both this time and the last. So she wasn't going against her own will, was she? She was going against what she thought was her will. But the thing was, she _didn't_ know what she thought her will was. She didn't know what she wanted. She knew she wanted Hoyt to love her, but this wasn't the way to go about it. She knew she wanted to be respected by the pirates and privateers, but this wasn't the way to go about it either. What the _fuck_ was happening to her head? She was already insane, crazy, psychotic, sociopathic, and she _knew_ that. But now she couldn't even think straight, either. She was not just going insane, she was completely losing her mind. She didn't really know if Hoyt or Vaas or Jack or _anyone_ would be able to fish her out of the lake she'd blindly jumped into that happened to be far too deep.

She was abruptly snapped out of her thought when Vaas thrust forward again, grunting as he dug his fingers into the backs of her hands, pushing them harder against the surface of the rock. She ignored it, though, instead bit her lip as she moved her hips slightly. They didn't come at the same time, he finished shortly after she did. She was honestly surprised at how _good_ it felt. She couldn't say the same fucking thing for the first time. She almost felt guilty, as Vaas's head collapsed onto her chest, still holding her wrists. He breathed heavily, his head rising and falling as her she panted too. Then he laughed, loosening his grip on her hands. "Fuckin' told you so, chica." He said, rolling off of her and lying on his back. His head suddenly stopped blocking the glaring light from the setting sun, so she closed her eyes to block it out.

"That was fun, no?" He said humorously, "The first time you were pretty fuckin' distant."

"Well you were fucked up on coke." She replied plainly, and he chortled. He reached for his trousers, and zipped them up, before bringing his elbow over his eyes. "I'm surprised you even remember it."

Vaas huffed, "It's not something you can forget," he said plainly, before pausing. "You should probably go back to Hoyt, huh."

She shuffled over to him, before dropping her head onto his outstretched arm. "Fuck that." She retorted dully, tucking a small tuft of her hair behind her ear as it was tickling the side of her face. "He's the very last person I want to see right now."

Vaas laughed again. "No shit." He replied. "Don't think I want to see him either." He paused, resting his hand over her far shoulder, "He'd fuckin' castrate me if he found out."

"He'd castrate me too." She said sarcastically, and he chuckled.

There was a long silence after that, and the sun had almost completely set before someone said anything. "Worth it, though, no?" Vaas asked audaciously.

Aio smirked slightly, but didn't respond. And then she fell asleep.

**Alrighty, sorry to put you through that. **

**Also, ignore the below comment **

**Katie (or Twists, in case someone else called Katie is reading this), if you have read to here**

**SUCK A FAT DICK**

**You know who you are**


	23. Twenty-Three - Fair Trade

**Hey everyone**

**Sorry to break the news but I just removed the last two chapters that I've recently submitted... I didn't like where it was going, and it sort of went off the plot I had originally planned for. So... yeah. **

**Sorry if you liked where the old one was going, but here's the new version :I**

**The start is pretty much the same. So here's the real chapter twenty-three. Thanks for reading :)**

Aio didn't even wake when the intense rays of morning sun hit her face. So she slept through till at least noon, when a pirate happened upon her naked body on the surface of the rock.

"Aye," The pirate urged, nudging her with his gun. She woke up with a stiff neck, and she found a bundle of her clothes under her head. She assumed Vaas put them there when he left – as he wasn't there anymore. "Wake up."

She put her hand on her head as she sat up, dismayed at the fact she was utterly naked. She looked up at the pirate sceptically, watching his eyes. The pirate sniggered. Evidently, this pirate was Caucasian, not Hispanic or African like nearly all of them were.

"You're lucky I was the one who found you." He said solemnly, "I've got no interest in chicks." She pouted, before reaching for her singlet and pulling it over her head. It needed a wash.

"Why is that?" She asked, standing, pulling her trousers up her legs.

"Let's just say…" The pirate paused, "If you had a dick, you'd be squealing right about now."

She frowned, but understood. She almost shrugged, as about fifty percent of the people on the island weren't exactly… sane. She was then thankful that he had been the pirate to find her, instead of some drunk horny asshole with a skull painted on his bandana and only a sling over his torso.

Once she was dressed, she sat back down, resting her elbows on her knees. And she sighed, looking directly into the sun – her head began to ache. "Do you have any weed?" She asked suddenly, and she looked at him expectantly.

"Didn't think a girl like you would smoke weed." He replied plainly.

She chortled, "Seriously?" She asked, rather bewildered by his comment. "Who do you think I am, huh? Some islander prostitute?"

The pirate smirked, and shrugged, "that's the impression I got by the fact you were lying naked on a rock with bruises on your wrists." Aio huffed, before he added, "Who are you then, huh?" She was genuinely surprised by how casual – and somewhat friendly this pirate was.

"Aio Volker." She said nonchalantly. The pirate looked taken aback, before looking at her again.

"Really?" He asked, "I've only heard stories about you. And I have to say…" He looked at her sceptically, "you're not exactly what I imagined."

"What did you imagine?" She asked, smirking slightly.

"Doesn't matter." He added, "but aside from that, yes, I have some weed." He paused, "you gunna pay me for it?"

Aio patted the sides of her trousers, to find her pockets empty. "I would, but evidently Vaas took my wallet… so no, I can't." She said frustratedly.

The pirate laughed. "So Vaas was who you slept with last night, huh?" He asked nosily, and when she glared at him, he changed the subject, grinning slightly. "Look, babe, because you're my boss's daughter, I'll cut you some slack." He reached into his back pocket and chucked her a small pouch of marijuana with a little piece of rolling paper inside. Then he pointed at her, "you owe me, though."

Aio smiled as she rolled the leaves into the paper, before putting it between her lips and bringing her lighter out of her trousers. She took a short puff of it before looking back at the pirate. "Indeed I do." She said, "What's your name, then?"

"James." He said staunchly. Aio nodded, before taking another drag of the joint and closing her eyes. "Does Hoyt know you slept with Vaas?"

She looked at him poisonously, "No." She said, "And if you say a single fucking word I'll put twigs in your eyes."

He sniggered, "Ok." He said, "you should get back to him, though."

Aio huffed. "Whatever." She said.

* * *

Aio knocked on Hoyt's office door, but immediately pushed it open rather than waiting for him to say 'come in'. She walked right up to his desk, where he suddenly stood, glaring at her.

"Where the _fuck_ have you been!?" He shouted, slamming his hands onto his desk, "Do you have any _fucking _idea what you've put me through? I sent out half of my fucking soldiers to find you!"

Aio smiled. "Wow, really?" She asked sarcastically.

He fell back into his arm chair, rubbing his face with his hands. "I thought you were dead, god dammit." He paused, before quietly repeating, "I thought you were fucking dead."

She looked sheepishly at the floor. "Sorry." She said plainly. "I needed some time alone."

Hoyt put his fingers over the bridge of his nose. "I understand." He said.

She frowned, genuinely taken aback. "What?"

"Samson, right?" He asked, looking at her staunchly. Aio felt her blood fall from her head and go straight to her hands and feet.

"H-how…" She uttered, "How the fuck do you know about that?"

Hoyt grunted, "It doesn't matter." He snapped, "Did he hurt you? Are… are you pregnant?"

"No, I'm not fucking pregnant." She waited a moment, before adding quietly, "As far as I'm aware I can't even get pregnant."

"What?" He asked suddenly, "Since when?"

She groaned – she _really_ didn't want to talk about it. "Since Vaas beat me pretty bad in the stomach when I was like… fifteen…" She rubbed her face drearily, "My period stopped after that."

"Jesus." Hoyt said, leaning forward and resting his elbows on his desk. "Why don't you tell me any of this?"

Aio grimaced. "You're not exactly easy to talk to." She replied.

"Well I am your father." He said.

"You don't want to be." She hissed, and he didn't respond. "Got any work for me?"

Hoyt rubbed his temples. "Uh…yeah." He responded, "Bunch of fucks from Australia went on a sailing trip and happened across the eastern shore of the north island. Vaas is interrogating some fucking native after half of our coke supply just… vanished. So I need you to film the ransom videos."

Aio sighed, "I don't like filming ransom videos." She said blatantly.

"You don't like anything." He retorted, "Just fucking do it, okay? I'll give you some weed for it."

Aio sniggered slightly, and crossed her arms. "Fine." She snapped. She was only in it for the weed. He fell back into his arm chair and folded his arms. "Good." He said, "They're filming at Broken Neck Home."

Aio nodded plainly, before swivelling on her ankle and walking out of the room. She was rather glad he had a job for her – she didn't want to talk to him anymore. That was awkward enough.


End file.
